Butterflies and Hurricanes
by KaryInTheSky
Summary: Year six begins for Rose Weasley. Everything is so ordinary, except maybe for...those anonymous, disturbing and imprudently attractive notes she's been receiving. Is she crazy for feeling that drawn towards the mystifying sender?
1. A Message

_A/N: Welcome! First, I would like to thank my reviewers for the wonderful support. You guys make it possible to go from one chapter to the next. Second, I'm currently editing the story, to fix grammar mistakes and other unforgivable things. Chapter 1 has just been replaced. If you're new to this story or have never left a comment: please, remember to leave a review. It really helps immensely to have some feedback!_

**A Message**

"HUGO!" shrieked the voice that came from the second floor. Hermione startled, her eyes shifted towards the ceiling of the living room. She dropped interest in her book and placed on the same couch she was sitting in. Her eyes didn't leave the wooden roof. An empty silence followed the squeal. Hermione turned her head around, towards the doorframe of the kitchen, from where Ron was already sticking his head out, staring at her in hopes of an explanation. Hermione shrugged in disconcert.

A loud stomp was heard again from above. Hermione stood up and Ron pulled his body out of the kitchen and into the living room. Smaller but constant stomps that sounded like running footsteps went back and forth on the second store of their house. Eight years ago they would have ran up the stairs with their wands at the ready. But, somehow, they knew better now.

Ron frowned harshly as he looked up trying to follow the sounds that echoed on the wood.

"What's going on up there?" Hermione raised her voice, now frowning as harshly as Ron.

"AAAAAAAAA!" Hugo stormed down the stairs, clumsily and in the biggest of hurries. Behind him ran Rose, just as fast, a fearful anger written on her face. "Run for it, she's gone mad!" Hugo warned, his long legs allowed him to reach his mother, to hide himself behind her. Rose, careless of the fortress Hugo was using, attempted to fetch him, but her father was faster than her, and his hand grabbed her arm tightly to pull her away from the victim.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Ron demanded, sternly.

"She's mad! That's what it is!" Hugo said, still behind her mother, who shot him a hard glare.

"No I'm not. Mum, he went through my things AGAIN!" accused Rose, searching for her mother's support. But Hermione crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I didn't! It was an accident! I told you that!" replied Hugo, backing off slowly.

"An accident? You destroy everything you touch!"

"No, I don't!"

"That's Enough! Both of you!" Hermione ordered. "You two are too old to be chasing each other around the house."

"She's gone mad because I borrowed her parchments!" Hugo complained.

"You borrowed them? You destroyed every single one of them! And they were expensive, and it took me months to find those! And you destroyed them in three seconds!" she yelled, the skin of her cheeks intensely red.

"I didn't know they were expensive! I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry? I'll give you something to be sorry about—"

"Rose Weasley, that's enough!" Ron scolded, his hard eyes set on her. Rose had figured that whenever he was angry his eyes turned into a very dark shade of blue. She always wondered if her own blue eyes transformed like that when she was infuriated, like she was now.

"He goes into my room and grabs everything! And he keeps hexing my things!" Rose told them. A miniature paper goose flew down the stairs and towards the group, intervening the conversation, as if pointing out the evidence. Hermione directed her hard sight towards her youngest son.

"Hugo, are you using spells out of Hogwarts?" she asked him.

"Um...just a bit,"

"A bit? You could be getting yourself a howler from the ministry at this very minute!" She waved her hand to scare off the small paper goose that flew towards her nose.

"Um..but, it was a small spell, very small," he said innocently, his eyes shaping like the ones of a defenceless puppy. Rose gave her brother a killer look. It wasn't the first time she saw him hexing objects, but doing it to her personal things was going too far. She bit her lip to restrain the impulse of reciting the many things he had hexed while being out of school before. She spotted Hugo gazing at the window, she knew he was making sure no owl from the ministry was coming.

"Alright, that's enough. Your mum's right, you two are way too old to be chasing each other around the house. Hugo, you better find a way of replacing your sister's parchments, and I want you two to go upstairs, and there better not be anything broken or out of place when we go up."

Rose exhaled in annoyance. She spotted her younger brother building a satisfied smile because the matter didn't get out of hand for him.

"And," Rose's mother suddenly whispered to her father.

"And what?" He retorted oblivious.

"_What_? That's it?" she said, simulating a drop of patience. "Hugo is doing magic outside of school," she pointed out gravely.

"Hermione, they are wizards. They can't help themselves," he explained, patiently as well.

"He's 13 years old, and she's 16. I _think_ they can control their temper _and_ their use of magic."

"Sorry luv, but you don't know what it was like to have brothers," Ron shrugged, chuckling slightly. Rose wrinkled her face. _Luv_: three lettered word commonly used by her dad whenever he considered that her mum was beginning to show herself irrational towards him. Rose's eyes shifted between each of her parents. She had a hunch of where it was all going.

"But I certainly know what it was like to have to deal with a temperamental Weasley all the time," Hermione retorted, sternly.

"Oww, Low punch," Hugo whispered, softly enough to be heard by Rose only, and clearly entertained by the scene.

"You should be one to talk about being temperamental, Hermione."

"_What?_" Hermione crossed her arms sternly, in a way that reminded Rose of the many times she spilled her mother's potions on the bedroom rug. Generally the gesture meant she was in major trouble.

While Hermione retorted with something that Rose paid little attention to, the two siblings backed off slowly, they looked at each other and Hugo gave his sister an expression of annoyance that she shared. Silently they retreated, and left the two parents arguing alone.

Rose hid herself in the comfort of her own bedroom, where she spent a good fifteen minutes cleaning the room from the mess she and her brother had occasioned. She fetched the flying paper swans that were all around the ceiling and the paper frogs that were jumping across the floor. The animated figures wrestled in her fingers and after a rather annoying chase she managed to put them all in a box. She threw herself on her bed once the job was done, and then remembered, that she still hadn't finished that book she had been reading and that was waiting for her on the nightstand.

"Rosie," her brother's rehearsed innocent voice said. She sighed strongly.

"What?" she asked dryly to the door that had slightly opened. Hugo sneaked the side of his face first, and then seemed encouraged enough to expose the rest of his red head, followed by his body. He walked in the room slowly, his head somehow down.

"Can I come in?" he whispered, his hands tucked inside his pocket.

"You're already in," Rose regretted, opening her book. With no invitation, her younger brother took a seat at the end of her bed silently. "Did you pick up the table that fell in the hall?" Rose asked him, although her sight remained on the pages of the book.

"Yeah,"

"Good," she said acidly.

"Mum and dad stopped arguing," he informed. "I heard them going to their bedroom," her brother explained, plainly. Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Really? Right now?"

"I suppose they didn't want us hearing them fight," he said, shrugging. Rose looked at him from over her book, to see if her brother was as oblivious of what was going on as he sounded. His plain face confirmed her supposition.

"Sure, Hugo," she said sarcastically.

"We don't fight as much as they say we do…do we?" He suddenly asked, revealing his concern. Rose looked at him from over the book again.

"Actually, I believe we do," she answered plainly.

"Oh," he looked down. "But it's fun most of the time, right? I mean, except when you go mental, that is."

"Hugo, what do you want? I'm still upset with you."

"I know," Hugo looked at his shoes, which moved nervously. "I'm sorry about your parchments," he mumbled. "I didn't know they were expensive," he then shrugged.

Rose closed the book definitely and set it on the table. "It doesn't matter anymore Hugo," she said resentfully.

"Hey look! Yesterday when I was at our grands' house, grandpa gave me muggle money. Thirty pounds! I'll exchange it for galleons, and then I can buy your parchments back!" Rose's heart shrunk irrevocably once she saw her brother sticking his hands in his pockets to take out the money he was talking about. She tried, but couldn't fight the smile. He always did that, and like an effective tonic, it always dissolved her anger, just like when he was seven and blew up her stuffed bunny. He felt so bad about it that he cleverly collected an advance of his Christmas money from their grandparents and uncles, and then tried to find a rabbit as similar as the one he had ruined. "We're going to Diagon Alley next week for our school supplies, I bet we can buy the parchments there!" he continued, encouraged with the idea.

"Never mind, Hugo. You'd have to pre-order them at Flourish & Blotts. I waited for them for months."

"Why can't you just buy regular ones?" Hugo asked, confused, still holding the money out.

"These ones don't rag, don't wrinkle, they are quick dry, and you can erase almost any ink out of them. They were Egypt's best material," she said sadly.

"Oh...well, then have the money and you can buy them later..."

"Hugo, I'm not going to rip you off," she said. "Put that away. Granpa Frank gave them to you so you could buy the weird stuff you always buy. By the way, your animal friends are in that box over there."

"Oh, great! Wait, I wanna show you something!"

Hugo picked up the box and stormed out of the room, and seconds later came back with a book in his hands.

"Look, Grandma Emily gave me this." Hugo hurried to open it. The pages were filled with pictures of small paper figures, and the steps that were to be followed to accomplish the final figures.

"Origami?" she said, smiling slightly. "God, Hugo, you're so weird."

"Why? Don't you remember? Mum once taught us how to build these,"

"That was ages ago," she chuckled. Rose remembered it perfectly. She must have been ten when her mum taught them how to do origami. The fever lasted for a four weeks. Hermione, Rose and Hugo would seat by the fireplace for hours, while Hermione patiently taught them to build hats, boats and frogs. Ron had joined them the first time only, because his lack of patience soon got the best of him. So he deserted the activity quite fast. "I remember. We never did that again."

He shrugged. "No. Grandma showed me this book yesterday and we got to building them. But once they were done they seemed sort of lonesome and lifeless, and boring. So, I just tried a little spell," he said looking at her innocently again.

Rose shook her head in disapproval. "One of these days, Hugo, you're going to get in big trouble for hexing muggle things."

Hugo shrugged uninterested. "Fancy a game of wizard chess?" he asked instead. Rose knew that the request was made to check out the status of her mood. "Or I can show you everything I brought from our grand's house yesterday. I went up to the attic! They have wicked things up there. I even saw—I—I"

Hugo's face had gone pale, white even. His small, brownish freckles lost colour. His eyes widened, in a way she rarely saw, but she captured quickly that he was looking at the window behind her.

"Oh no," he said faintly, as she heard a smack on the glass that made her turn around. "Owl," he said again, breathless. "Oh no! It's happening! I'm getting expelled!"

"What?" she said as she stood up from the bed and walked towards the window. She opened it, and the old bird let her take a small piece of parchment. The bird didn't wait to get paid or prized; it didn't even wait for a response letter. As soon as she got the piece out of his paw he flew away.

"Oh no!" she heard her brother say again. He was set dramatically against the bedroom wall, as if he was being cornered.

"For goodness sake Hugo, this isn't a howler. And you know more than well by now that you won't get expelled for doing that little amount of magic, we are surrounded by too many wizard relatives." She rolled her eyes at him. But when she examined the still rolled piece she was the one to feel her skin lose colour. "Besides...this is for me," she explained refusing herself to open the rolled parchment that had no sender.

"What? What is it?" Hugo had walked up to her and was now leaning towards the piece. "Who sent that? And why send it so late?" Curious as he was, he was beginning to feel noisy to her.

"Hugo, I need you to go now."

"But—"

"Out," she said at her younger brother, handing him his origami book back and pointing at the door. "Now."

"But—"

"Hugo! Out!" He didn't move, and with an annoyed noise she started pushing him towards the door. "Please!" she said, losing her patience, her brother seemed to weigh more than what he regularly did.

"Come on, Rose!" he claimed, putting resistance. "Who is it from? Is it from your _boyfriend_," he suddenly mocked. Rose's stomach flipped unpleasantly.

"I don't have a boyfriend," she said acidly, still trying to push his body towards the door.

"Is it from that guy? The one you fancy? _Patrick_," he teased again, with the same tone he had used before.

"Alright, that's it. If you don't walk out at this minute, then mum will know that you were trying to give four magical legs to her Chinese teapot, and that is the reason it is now broken."

"I'm out!" he announced cleverly as he ran out of the room with his origami book under his arms.

Rose closed the door behind her. The small rolled piece of parchment danced with her fingers. Her instincts made her recognize it. The skin of her neck rose, her heart sped up, she suddenly felt genuinely sick.

She breathed in, and encouraged herself to unfold it.

In a very dark ink, and handwriting she knew nothing about, two words made her breathing go short.

_Remember me_?

"Al," Rose whispered. No response. "Al," she insisted, this time shaking his shoulder. "Al," she waited patiently, for two seconds. "AL!"

Albus' startled body made a sudden move. His thorax rose abruptly, hitting his head with a low bookshelf. Rose slid herself on the bed, a few inches far from him. "Ow! Wh—what it is?" he asked roughly, rubbing his head with his hand.

"I have to talk to you," she explained plainly.

"At this hour? You couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Albus hands searched for his glasses on the nightstand, but soon found that Rose had been handing them to him. "How did you get in?" he yawned as he took the glasses and placed them on his face.

"Fireplace, of course."

"What is it?" He murmured, setting himself straight.

"I couldn't sleep," she explained.

"And so, you decided that I shouldn't sleep either?" he snapped, annoyed.

"No! Al, It's starting again. He wrote to me," she heard how mortified her voice began to sound in the quiet room.

"Who—Oh," Albus acknowledged, his green eyes opened entirely for the first time, as if doing his best at waking himself up. "When?"

"A few hours ago."

Albus exhaled strongly. "That's weird. He stopped writing all summer, and we're only a week away from returning to Hogwarts."

"I know, I thought about that too."

"What did he write this time?"

"Not much, just..." she opened the notebook she had carried to her uncle's house. Incrusted between the cover and the first page were a collection of small, torn pieces of parchment she had carefully kept. Each of them held a single phrase, written in ink. She handed Albus the newest one of the pieces.

"Remember me," he read out loud. In the half dark room, illuminated with nothing else than a lamp on the nightstand, Rose chose to look down at her notebook, knowing that her cousin's eyes were on her. She took one of the little pieces with her hand.

"The things he writes," she whispered in concentration.

"What about them?"

"I don't know what they mean."

In a swift move, Albus took the piece of parchment from her hands, leaned near the lamp, and fixed his glasses properly over his green eyes to read it.

"_Everything about you is how I want to be_," he first read, and reached for Rose's notebook to pick up another one. "_Everything about you is so easy to love._"

Albus wrinkled his face in disgust, as if he had just savoured a most bitter potion.

"Ghastly, isn't it?" he said, handing her the papers back.

Rose read the lines to herself for the hundredth time, in silence.

"Isn't it?" he asked again, directing his accusing sight towards her.

"Yes! Yes, it's—terrible," she mumbled.

"The handwriting is different in the last one too," Albus pointed out.

"I know, that's what's more confusing! Why is he sending these with different handwritings? Not a single one matches the other one. That doesn't make any sense!"

"He must be doing a hard job to avoid getting recognized."

"But, why? How I'm I supposed to know who he is, anyway? He wrote for an entire month, before the school year was over. He disappeared, now he writes again, I don't get it!" she said, exasperate. The anonymous writer had appeared for the first time during her first OWL exam. She remembered it well, it was Transfiguration. She had studied hard for it, she had properly memorized all of the spells, she had digested the theory, and she, along with Albus, had transformed a considerable amount of chairs into cats –a practice that won them detention for irreversibly violating school property-. So when the day arrived she could say she was entirely ready. But during her walk towards the Great Hall she had been intercepted by a black, foreign owl she had never seen before. In a fast move the bird had dropped a tiny piece of rolled parchment in her hands. The owl continued on his journey and she opened the delivery to discover a note written in an unidentified handwriting:

_Everything about you resonates happiness, now I won't settle for less_.

Her concentration, only seconds before dedicated to her efforts of studying, had dwelled elsewhere. She spent half of her theory exam glancing at the people of the room, wondering which of them could have possibly written a note like that one, so flattering in some ways, and so disturbing in others. She wasn't sure if she liked the sender's demanding energy or despised it instead. More notes came along during the next weeks, interfering with her concentration –which made her worry about her OWLs results during the entire summer- but fortunately, that didn't stop her from getting _Outstanding_ and _Exceeds the expectations_ in her subjects.

Finally, her subjective and even wishful mind led her to suspect that it was Patrick Cleaver the one behind it all; a Gryffindor, one year above her, with a convincing smile and enticing brown eyes that made her stop breathing every time he walked past her. But...again, that was just a subjective assumption.

A week from the ending of the school year the notes stopped arriving, and that gave Rose a sense of relief. Maybe the anonymous teaser had gotten bored of the game.

Albus concluded for her that the writer might as well be someone who barely knew her, and as such didn't know where she lived. He also let her know more than once the negative appeal he had towards the entire situation. He expressed to feel relieved that the anonymous owling had stopped, because it was becoming annoying. Rose agreed, but soon found herself returning to her little pieces of parchments now and then, trying to align them, seeing if together they built a paragraph. She didn't want to be distracted, or bothered with riddles, but her head couldn't stop wondering into the possible meaning of such intriguing notes. Understandable curiosity, nothing more.

"Maybe we should go back to the theory that this person is somebody from school," Albus suggested. "And he knows where you live, so he must know _things_ about you."

"I guess," she said weakly, setting her eyes on a far, dark point of Albus' bedroom. "Or maybe he's been figuring those things out," she reasoned, giving herself into thought.

"Rose, are you alright?" Albus' voice broke the suddenly hard silence.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"How many of those have this bloke sent you so far?"

"Eight," she whispered, placing her hands over the little notes. "Nine with today's note."

"You know, I don't like this, Rose. I don't like this at all. I have a bad feeling about this guy."

"Stop Al," she clicked, moving her head the other way, far from his sight. "You worry too much," she said, absently.

"Hey, I'm not the one irrupting in your bedroom at—"he glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "—12:30!? Is that really the time? And you say this doesn't disturb you at all?"

"Al, I don't know what to think anymore. I just—I want to know what this guy is playing at. I want to know what it is that he really wants."

"Rose, that's the only thing that's clear," Albus took the last of the notes from her hands.

"He wants you."

_A/N: Hi there, and welcome to the story. I hope you find the time to read it and especially to share your thoughts about it with me! Reviews are not only highly welcome, but they also help the writer...so please, do leave them..._

_The titles to each chapter will always refer to a song, mainly because the title relates to the centric event of the chapter, but also because the mood plays along with the lyrics. Of course, it isn't necessary for you to read or listen to every song, but you might find in each of them useful foreshadowing of the events or the characters' psychology...besides, it's fun._

_The title to this story "Butterflies and hurricanes" also makes reference to a song by 'Muse'. The reason I chose this specific song? Well... let the story answer that question on its own._

_Artist: Coldplay_

_Lyrics:_

_My song is love  
Love to the loveless shown  
And it goes up  
You don't have to be alone  
Your heavy heart  
Is made of stone  
And it's so hard to see you clearly  
You don't have to be on your own  
You don't have to be on your own_

_And I'm not gonna take it back  
And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that  
You're the target that I'm aiming at  
Got to get that message home_

_My song is love  
My song is love, unknown  
But I'm on fire for you, clearly  
You don't have to be alone  
You don't have to be on your own_

_And I'm not gonna take it back  
And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that  
You're the target that I'm aiming at  
And I'm nothing on my own  
Got to get that message home_

_And I'm not gonna stand and wait  
Not gonna leave it until it's much too late  
On a platform I'm gonna stand and say  
That I'm nothing on my own  
And I love you, please come home_

_My song is love, is love unknown  
And I've got to get that message home_


	2. Shine

**Shine**

"Rose, honey, could you please pick up Fair's cage?" Hermione asked. Rose blinked. She had been standing at the same spot for ten minutes, studying the bodies that appeared and disappeared through the grey fog that the Hogwarts' express made. She studied each of the students, trying to remember their names and the reasons any of them could have to play her the joke of writing notes like the ones she had been receiving.

She turned around to pick up Fair's cage, an owl she shared with Hugo because he wasn't interested in owning one for himself. She couldn't help but gazing at the students on the platform, wondering if the letters were just a prank. It could be something entirely different, one of those students that were so eager to get on the train could have developed an actual interest on her, a rather strange interest. Rose set the cage on top of her trunk, so her father and Hugo could place them inside the train. Soon her uncles Harry and Ginny arrived as well.

"Mum, I left my scarf in the car," Lily complained.

"No you didn't, the back seat was empty."

"James, will you help with your sister's trunk?" Harry ordered.

"James isn't here," Albus pointed out pulling his trunk to its place before walking up to Rose.

"Al, did you see my scarf?" Lily insisted.

"No."

"You probably left it at home, I'll send it to you," intervened Ginny.

"Where's James?" Harry asked, now looking stern.

"Mum, I'll go check the car again."

"Lily, you don't have time."

"Ow!" Lily squealed.

"James!" Ginny scolded, once she saw that James had returned, and had wrapped Lily's head with her own scarf, covering her eyes and nose.

"I was looking for this!" she protested as she untangled the piece of clothing from her head.

"You didn't ask me for it," he grinned.

"James, give your sister a break," Ginny said.

Albus rolled his eyes at the scene behind him, shaking his head seriously, and Rose chuckled softly at him. The next ten minutes flew by impressively fast, and soon it was time for all of them to receive from their family the usual hugs and kisses that preceded their annual trip to Hogwarts.

"I'll miss you," Rose announced, hugging her mother tightly.

"We'll miss you too."

"Listen Rose, Hugo. I want you to be very careful this year. This goes to all of you," Ron said directing himself to his nephews as well. Rose and Albus exchanged quick glances.

"Ron, don't alarm them like that," Ginny said softly.

"Actually, he's right Gin. You should all be extra careful. Things are still not...in order yet, " Harry warned.

The past summer had been a long one for Harry and the rest of the Aurors at the Ministry of Magic. By the end of June there had been an alarming break in Azkaban. Five people had escaped; three of them former death eaters, and it was still a mystery how they had managed to break from prison.

Ron had left the Auror's department years ago with the purpose of dedicating himself entirely to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, for which he had a great deal of projects. Rose was only six when that had occurred, and the only memory she had of it was the joy of having her dad around the house a lot more often. But for the past three months even Ron had involved himself in the chase of the fugitives, which meant that her parents spent long hours at the Ministry of Magic. Fortunately, one of them had been caught two weeks ago.

"Dad, we'll be perfectly safe at Hogwarts. Besides, what's all that got to do with us?" Lily asked carelessly. The two grown men looked at each other for a very brief moment.

"We're just asking you to be careful, that's all," Harry answered plainly.

"Not much to ask, is it?" said Ron, suddenly stroking the back of his hand against Rose's cheek.

"No. Of course not," she shrugged. Ron contemplated her for a few seconds, and smiled warmly. "Dad, we'll be fine," she chuckled, rolling her eyes at her father's silliness. She threw her arms around his neck to hug him tightly and kissed his cheek.

"I know," he whispered.

oOo

The next day Rose ran down the stairs of the Gryffindor common room, her heavy bagback half sliding off her shoulder, and her hands occupied trying to tame her curls in a bun. But by the time she reached the portrait hole, her hair was already free and spread over her shoulders again. She sighed impatiently, bending to the floor to reach for the ribbon that had fallen off her red curls.

"You'll be late for breakfast," her cousin's voice pointed out. Lily was walking inside the common room, through the portrait hole.

"I noticed," she sighed, fixing the position of her backpack.

"The heads of each house are handing out everybody's schedules," Lily announced, waving her own schedule at Rose.

"Already?"

"Yes. You better get there fast before Neville loses yours again," she grinned mockingly.

"It's _Professor_ Longbottom to you, Lily," Rose teased, taking the schedule from her cousin's hand to look at Lily's classes for the year.

Lily chuckled. Neville had been a professor at Hogwarts for 11 years now, and just last year he had been honourably named Head of the Gryffindor house, news that were very warmly accepted by Rose and her cousins. But the very next day of his promotion he started off by losing some of the student's schedules, among the ones was Rose's, who spent a week guessing which classrooms she belonged in. She followed Albus around for the core subjects, but had a hard time getting to Ancient Runes and muggle studies, two subjects she didn't share with him.

"You dropped care of magical creatures!" Rose told her cousin, who shrugged. "Hagrid will be crushed," she said.

"I know, but this year it was crashing with Quidditch practice," she explained, taking her schedule back. "Besides, look, I don't think my skin will take more burns from Hagrid's pets," she stretched her arm, which still held a small scar from an incident she suffered during one of Hagrid's classes last year. "I don't think I have your patience for that."

"You could have dropped Quidditch instead," Rose mocked, knowing how very unlikely that was, and she didn't really blame her. Lily was probably the best player in the family. Rose was sure that Lily was much better than her, even though she liked to think as herself as a good Quidditch player, or ex-player, actually. Rose had been a part of the team for three years, but at the beginning of her fifth year she took the decision of leaving it. James, captain of the Gryffindor team, even begged her a little so she would stay. But other priorities got in her way.

Truth was that Lily was probably the treasure of Gryffindor's current Quidditch team. She was even better than James and Louis who were already really good. Rose liked to predict that Lily was the one who would surely make a career out of it.

"You have your priorities, I have mine," Lily grinned with a melodious voice. She then took from Rose's hands the ribbon she had just picked up from the floor, as if reading her thoughts, and turned Rose around to work on her hair.

"You know, some guy just asked me about you at the breakfast table," Lily said, tying efficiently Rose's hair in very quick moves.

"Some guy?" Rose asked, turning her head slightly around.

"Stay still! Yes, some guy from our house," she explained uninterested. "Patrick something, I think is his name. He is in seventh year, isn't he?"

Rose's stomach flipped, and all the blood of her body hurried to gather on her neck and cheeks.

"Um, yes...what did he say?"

"He asked me if I knew where you were."

"And,"

"I told him I was your cousin not your mother."

"Lily! You didn't have to be so rude!"

Lily laughed, turning Rose around again to face her. "I'm messing with you. I said I hadn't seen you today. Who is he?" she inquired. "Your hair's done, by the way."

"Thanks," she said, relieved by her cousin's abilities. "And he, as you said, is a Gryffindor from seventh year."

"Very clever. I mean, why was he ask—"

"—Gotta go Lils, before Neville actually does lose my schedule, and thanks," Rose said quickly, pointing at her hair, before she scrammed through the portrait hole and towards the Great Hall.

"Morning," she said, automatically sitting next to Albus.

"You almost missed breakfast."

"I know. I slept horribly," she confessed. She had not received a note that night, but still, the expectation didn't let her rest. She had spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, her head asking more questions than what she was capable of handling.

Albus handed her a piece of parchment. "Neville left me your schedule," he said, letting go of the paper and picking up the pumpkin juice.

"Thanks," she sighed, taking the parchment. "New year," she announced through a whisper, studying each class very carefully.

"Yes it is."

"Kind of like a clean parchment, a new start," she said with a half smile, her free hand reaching for a piece of toast. "A new opportunity to shine."

Albus chuckled, shaking his head. "It'll be hard to shine with that many hours worth of Potions," he said, somehow resentfully. "And it's our first class today."

"We have Care of magical creatures twice a week," she read, biting the toast. "Did you know that Lily dropped it?"

"Yes. Little coward."

"I think she did what none of us dared to do because we're afraid of hurting Hagrid's feelings."

"That's rubbish—" Albus retorted.

"I know, I know, you think his classes are wicked. Look, I have muggle studies with Slytherin. That's odd, I used to share it with Hufflepuff."

"I heard Professor Slade talking about that this morning. They're doing an integration strategy. But that's rubbish, we don't need to integrate more than we already are."

"I guess," she murmured. "Did the Prophet arrive yet?"

"Oh yes, and look, good news."

"They caught another one?" she asked in excitement, taking the newspaper abruptly from Albus' hand.

"Yes, dad did," Albus announced proudly. Rose grinned softly and took the paper's front page.

_**Harry Potter puts Walden Macnair back in Azkaban**_

_By Ted Lupin_

_Last night, former death eater Walden Macnair, was captured in a three Auror mission led by Auror Harry Potter. The fugitive was spotted entering knockturn Alley during midnight, where he was successfully captured._

_The actual hiding place of the former death eater is still left unknown. The auror department is working to obtain as much information as possible from the recently caught fugitive._

_The prison break that took place last June, left five dangerous wizards on the loose, among which were Death eaters Alfred Jugson –recently imprisoned by former Auror Ronald Weasley-, Walden Macnair and Rodolphus Lestrange. Ashley and Aston Banvard, still on the loose, had been captured five years ago for breaking into Gringotts, an incident that led to the death of four wizards._

"I hope they get the rest of them back in Azkaban soon," she said as she folded the paper and stood up from the table. "Aren't they too old to be running around, expecting not to get caught?"

"I heard dad talking about it. He says they must have had help from someone in the Ministry."

Before walking out of the Great Hall, Rose couldn't stop herself from lifting her eyes, to discreetly study the people that were sitting at her table. There he was, slightly taller than her, clean smile on his face, short dark hair, brown eyes that were already observing her. Her cheeks burned when the corner of Patrick's lips formed a grin as he saw her from the distance. She saw him murmuring a "_Hi_". She smiled, very softly, and murmured the same thing back.

She wondered if Patrick was the anonymous writer. What if he really was too shy to be straightforward with her? He didn't seem so shy, though. As a matter of fact, the writer himself didn't seem shy at all. But maybe it was just part of a rather odd strategy to swipe her off her feet. She suddenly frowned, it was all too confusing. The writer was not giving her anything to decipher his codes. Instead of clearing everything up, he was making it all darker. She felt like all she needed was a simple hint, something that would stop her from going crazy. Suddenly, she realized that she was frowning at Patrick, confusing the boy.

"We'll be late for Potions," Albus announced, with little enthusiasm. Rose nodded softly and smiled at Patrick again before turning around to leave.

"Hi Rose! Al," Anya, Hanna and Neville's only daughter, had intercepted them. The shy Hufflepuff, only a year younger than them had always found a friendship in Rose, especially because Rose had offered herself to help her a couple of times with Transfiguration.

"Hi Anya," Rose greeted her.

"How's your dad, Albus? I heard these are tough times at the Ministry," the girl asked, smiling warmly.

Albus shrugged. "He's alright, thanks. Working hard," he answered in distraction, his eyes wondering about the Great Hall.

"Hey, you have your OWLs this year," Rose pointed out. Anya's face changed drastically.

"Yes," she mumbled in disgust.

"Oh, get ready for what's coming," Albus warned her, taking a step forward to walk out the Great Hall, which reminded Rose that they were really going to be late for Potion's class.

"Right," Anya retorted nervously. "I'll see you around Rose. Bye Al," she smiled again and left fast.

The walk to the Potions' classroom was rather quiet and soon Rose spotted that Albus was once again looking over the crowd, his eyes searching for someone.

"Who are you looking for?" she questioned. Albus turned his neck around in a quick move.

"No one," he said sheepishly.

"Yes, you are. You are definitely looking for someone," she grinned.

"At least I know who I'm looking for, that's more than what you can say," Albus said, entering the classroom.

"Very funny," she retorted, taking a seat at a table as close to the teacher's desk as possible. "Actually, I'm not looking for him anymore. I figured I couldn't obsess with someone who doesn't have the guts to talk clearly to me."

Albus looked at her, frowning slightly.

"What?"

"Does that have anything to do with you and Patrick Cleaver flirting across the Great Hall this morning?" he mocked, opening his Potions' book uninterestingly. Rose blushed fervently. She thought she hadn't been indiscreet.

"I wasn't—he—Oh shut up," she ordered, looking down at the table.

Her embarrassment made her dig her eyes and mind in her Potions' book, and she didn't even notice when the classroom filled. Soon, Professor Harold Maddock, a tall, thin man in his late thirties took the lead of the first class of the year. During his years at Hogwarts he had been a Ravenclaw, and after graduating he had spent ten years working at St. Mungus', until he was offered the job of being a Professor at Hogwarts.

The blackboard behind him read the guidelines to a very complex healing potion, highly effective when the victim suffers from a poisonous animal bite.

"Can anyone tell me the negative side of this particular potion?" he asked.

Rose's head scanned the room softly. Nobody in the class seemed to know the answer. She waited for a few seconds until she raised her own arm.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"It's the brewing time, sir. It takes almost two days to brew properly, and any case of animal bite will need immediate treatment."

Professor Maddock grinned slightly, but did not seem satisfied with her answer.

"Actually, with the proper ingredients, this potion may be given to the victim in less than five minutes," he said. Rose frowned and looked down at his book to consult it before retorting.

"Sir, it isn't possible. The lake weed in spite of speeding the brewing of the potion, can be highly toxic. For these cases the wizard would have to replace the weed with oak roots."

"Do you know how long it takes for oak roots to brew?" he questioned.

"Twenty to Twenty-four hours, sir."

"Which brings me to my initial question," he answered, smiling politely.

"Sir, you'd have to apply other potions, use other healing spells, but this could kill the person within minutes!"

"Thanks Miss Weasley but that's not entirely right."

"I'm—I'm positive," she assured.

"Miss Weasley, would it be too arrogant of me to tell you that my years of experience allow me to disagree with you?"

"Well—I—um—"

"I, too, am positive," his stern voice said, his brown eyes glancing carefully at her over his round glasses.

"Sorry sir."

"Does anybody else have a clue? Ah, Malfoy," he authorized. Rose turned her head around. In a corner of the classroom, almost at the last desk, Scorpius Malfoy was suddenly raising his hand. His slightly pale face was solemn, his dirty blond hair almost covered his grey eyes.

"The ingredients will function together, only if the wizard adds a proper amount of sodium. Sodium lessens the strength of the weeds and eliminates any possibilities of it being toxic. Not many textbooks recommend this, because most potion makers consider that it alters the effects of the healing. They also consider sodium a very vulgar ingredient for potion making. They would rather use other potions for these purposes," his grave voice finished.

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy," The professor continued. "Ten points to Slytherin. Truth is that as vulgar as sodium might be, it is in every single kitchen, and if you find yourself in a time of need, this healing potion can be brewed fast enough at your own home, and will save a life."

"Kitchen sodium?" Rose whispered, astonished.

"Rose?" Albus murmured, as the professor carried on a detailed explanation about the use of kitchen ingredients for emergency healing potions. Rose's eyes were fixed on the pages of the book, searching for Scorpius' explanation somewhere in there, her jaw partly open.

"I—um—"

Albus took his quill and wrote _kitchen sodium_ next to the word weed in Rose's textbook. She suddenly snapped in realization.

"He could have just raised his hand as well," she whispered, clenching her teeth. "That would have saved me the humiliation! If he's so smart then why does he have to wait for the last minute to answer? He always does that! He waits for the last minute to prove how talented he is. He's so cocky."

"He barely talks at all," Albus said shrugging.

"But when he does, he says enough to make me look ridiculous for a week."

"You alright?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine," she said crossly, taking her eyes up front, as if concentrating on the professor. She didn't raise her hand again during the entire class, not even when the professor asked a question so simple that literally made her bite her lips to stop herself from giving out the answer.

Funnily enough, Scorpius didn't answer any of the following questions either.

oOo

Artist: Collective Soul.

_Lyrics:_

_Give me a word  
Give me a sign  
Show me where to look  
Tell me what will I find  
Lay me on the ground  
Fly me in the sky  
Show me where to look  
Tell me what will I find  
Oh, heaven let your light shine down_

_Love is in the water  
Love is in the air  
Show me where to look  
Tell me will love be there  
Teach me how to speak  
Teach me how to share  
Teach me where to go  
Tell me will love be there  
Oh, heaven let your light shine down_


	3. Who'd Have Known

_A/N: First of all: thank you so much for the feedback you showed for the first two chapters, it certainly put me in the mood for writing more. Things begin to twist, so pay close attention! And please: feel free to say hi, ask questions, or give away your suppositions. I'll always reply._

**Who'd have known?**

With the first days of school, Rose's routine came back to normal. The professors had taken advantage of the students' happy dispositions and gave them enough assignments to keep them busy. Rose did her best to keep up with the teachers' demands. She had to start the year well, if she wanted it to end well. She didn't have to put much effort into Charms or Transfiguration, or any of her elective subjects. But she did have to give close care to Potions. Professor Maddock was not only a perfectionist, but he was also an experimenter, and he rarely took the easy path into anything. That always gave Albus and Rose more than a headache when trying to decipher any of his assignments.

But concentrating wasn't as easy doing as it was saying it, for how could anyone focus on learning something at Potions class, when Scorpius Malfoy kept intimidating every single one of her answers? Pride made her stay silent at that class for the rest of the week, and that didn't work well for her. She learned best when she asked and answered questions.

Another thing that diverted her from the concentration path was Patrick. He sat close to her during their meals, smiled every time he walked past her, and used very lame excuses to talk to her in the common room, her favourites being: 'have you got an extra quill?', 'I ran out of ink, can I borrow yours?', 'do you happen to have a spare parchment?' He was either collecting school supplies from the rest of the students or was seriously into her. He didn't even seem to notice –or care- just how silly those excuses were –not to mention unnecessary-. But the best part was that no matter what he asked her for, he always spent the next thirty minutes chatting with her and always conveniently forgot what he had asked to begin with.

"We haven't finished," Albus said while Rose closed her books and stood up from the table.

"I've got rounds," she reminded him.

"Oh, right," he yawned.

"I won't take long, you can finish with Defence Against de Dark Arts and we'll finish Potions when I get back," she suggested.

"I'm done with Defence Against the Dark Arts," he grinned lazily.

"You are?" she asked in amazement, taking his parchment. "But this isn't even half the length the professor asked from us!"

"Hey, but the answers are all there," he retorted. Rose shrugged. He had a knack for simplicity she couldn't match.

"Fine, then. I'll see you later," she said in a hurry.

Doing rounds was one thing that had certainly not changed at all. It was just as boring and time consuming. She still remembered the excitement she felt last year when she received her Prefect Badge. Her parents were as proud as she was. She had figured that the Badge represented her academic success for the past five years. Albus had a different way of seeing it, though: "That's one more thing you'll have to worry about," he mocked her. She thought him silly and immature for thinking like that. Maybe the Badge didn't hold a meaning to him, but it certainly did to her.

Now she would never admit how right he was. Not only did she have a new reason to keep her grades up, but also it was one more thing she had added to her routine.

As she walked the silent Halls, she noticed how her steps echoed louder by the second. When she took a right turn on the hallway, she crashed against a body she immediately recognized.

"Lily! Watch out!"

"Ow! _You_ watch out!" Lily said from the floor, rubbing her hip. Rose, who had remained standing, offered her hand to her cousin so she could stand up.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Rose asked. Lily shrugged, looking at both sides of the hallway.

"Late night snack," she then said with a sufficient smile. Rose shook her head. Hogwarts' house elves kept spoiling her, allowing her visits to the kitchen and inviting her and occasionally her friends to any amount of food she'd feel like having.

"Go to the common room," she said in resignation.

"Alright," she almost sang the words, not wearing out the little smirk that had developed on her lips. Rose frowned deeply.

"What are you grinning at?"

"Nothing," she chuckled, before storming out of her way. Rose was left standing alone, in absolute confusion. She then figured she should be used by now to Lily's sporadic incongruities.

As the night kept falling upon her she turned again and hurried to finish her rounds as soon as possible. She took a short cut, to reach the downstairs level, where she found another person she hadn't counted on seeing.

She didn't bump into Scorpius as she had crashed into Lily. But he did freeze momentarily at the sight of her, as if not expecting her to reach him so fast. His dirty blond hair, regularly straight, was somehow messed up, but the broom he carried on one hand pretty much explained that he had once again been flying at the Quidditch court, out of permitted practicing hours.

"Hi Weasley," he said gravely. She fought the attempt to roll her eyes at him. Six years and they still called each other by their last name. Maybe Professor Arabella Slade, their charms teacher and Head of the Hufflepuff house, was right. A little integration strategy is what that school might need for people to at least start remembering each other's first names.

No, that was just plain silly. Of course Scorpius knew her first name, but for some reason enjoyed not using it.

"A bit late to be practicing, isn't it?" She raised her eyebrow. The right corner of his lip lifted up, very little and very delicately. She wasn't even sure if that was a smile what he was giving out. He simply nodded.

"It is," he admitted, the attempt of a smile faded to return his lips to their regular solemn shape. Did he not know that she could report his late night unauthorized practices to a professor? If that really was what he was doing.

Of course, if she told on him, she would also have to tell on Lily for wondering about as well, and that would be betrayal.

"Shouldn't you be walking to your common room?" she said, trying to make it sound determined and demanding, but the magnitude of his firm eyes made her sound inquisitive instead, as if she were just..._wondering_.

"I _am_ walking to my common room," he answered plainly, passively.

She breathed in, discreetly.

"Right," she swallowed. "Go on, then," she finished softly. He nodded once, making it seem like the only reason he wasn't in his common room already was because of the unnecessary delay she was creating.

"Have a good night," he whispered, staring into her eyes as he said so, before retaking his way to Slytherin's common room.

"Good—night," she said, almost to herself.

It took her a couple of seconds to put herself together again. His grey eyes had pierced her, nailing her toes to the floor. She figured that if he looked at everybody in that way, then no wonder why some people still found him creepy.

With a relieved sigh Rose finally walked through the portrait hole of the fat lady, to find an empty common room. Albus' studying determination had not lasted long, just like she had predicted. As a matter of fact, nobody took the first week seriously no matter how much work the professors assigned.

Rose stopped for a second. The common room wasn't as empty as she thought at first.

"Hey," Patrick said softly, looking up at her from the couch, and closing the book his hands were holding. He smiled, and as always Rose's stomach flipped to the sight of it.

"Hi," she stood still by the portrait.

"Coming back from your rounds?"

Rose nodded. That question was obviously built to lessen the intensity of the silence between them.

"What are you up to this late?" she asked. Like she cared, having him there alone was enough for her.

"Some reading I had to finish for Ancient Runes tomorrow," he said. "Complicated subject, if you ask me. It's a good thing this is my last year."

"It's not that complicated," she said softly, walking up to him.

"Actually, I'm glad you're here," he said in realization. She smiled involuntarily, and carefully sat on the coffee table, in front of him. He quickly opened his book and searched for a page. "This fragment. I can barely make it out. I know how good you are at this subject."

Rose frowned at the incomprehensible paragraph. She could make out some parts of it, but she knew why she wasn't reading it well.

"Patrick," she smiled. "Those transcriptions are for seventh years. That's a bit advanced for me, don't you think?"

The boy chuckled in embarrassment while lowering his book. He hesitated for a moment, lowering his sight as well.

"I—yes, I forgot," he said sheepishly, and when he finally looked up at her she was capable of staring into his brown eyes again. His sight was always soft, very soft. His eyes never pierced.

And that was a good thing.

He cleared his throat, and lowered his eyes again, something she instantly disliked. Maybe it was her fault, maybe her own eyes were being too hard on him, intimidating even.

"I guess...I'm running out of excuses to talk to you," he softly said, finally raising his eyes again. Her lips twisted into a smile. She could feel how pleased she must have looked. It didn't matter. It was about time all the subtle flirting came to an end.

"Good," she mumbled, unnecessarily, because he was seconds from brushing his lips against hers. He had leaned forward, and she had grabbed the table on each side of her, to prevent herself from jumping, yelling, or maybe even falling in disbelief.

Her throat locked, her stomach flipped again, blood ran to her neck and cheeks; all at the same time.

A loud noise broke everything in a matter of seconds. Patrick fell back on the couch instinctively, while Rose jumped up from the table. She saw that a chair had fallen close to the stairs, and from where she was standing she spotted a very familiar shade of red hair.

"Hugo," she hissed. The boy didn't waste a second to run up the stairs. She looked down, Patrick was still sitting on the couch, staring at her.

"I—I," she mumbled.

He smiled widely, and grabbed her hand to pull her down towards him. "I have to go catch the little dwarf," she said pointing towards the stairs. He laughed softly and nodded, but grabbed her face with his other hand to kiss her again.

She had to break into the boys' bedroom to 'subtly' grab Hugo by the arm and make him promise he wouldn't tell a soul what he saw. He, of course, promised. She, of course, didn't believe he would keep the promise.

But Hugo's intromission didn't erase the smile off her face as she walked into her bedroom.

"Somebody's happy," Chassidy said, smiling. Rose tried to hide her own grin, but wasn't capable of it.

"She won't spill a word Chass," Loraine retorted.

"It's no big deal," she lied, searching for her nightclothes. Chassidy sighed, probably out of boredom. Rose wondered if she told her roommates, would they be discreet about it longer than Hugo? Tough one.

A loud smack made the glass of the window tremble, making the girls in the room scream. Rose turned around and wished for half a second that her suppositions were wrong, the other half a second...she wished for the opposite.

The owl that had crashed against the glass was black, with very small but messy feathers. His yellow eyes glowed in the dark.

"What the—who gets mail at this time of night?" Loraine said in horror. Rose breathed in, and opened the window to receive the small piece of paper.

"That would be me," she mumbled, not very proud of the fact.

"Who is it from?" Chassidy asked in excitement. Rose turned around to look at her two roommates, she could hear the soft snores of Joanne, sound asleep. She shrugged and shook her head, trying to hide the strange excitement she hated so much, mainly because it made her stomach feel sick.

"It's—"

"No big deal," the girls said in unison, used to Rose's little disposition to talk to them about her private life. Rose blinked. Those girls in the dormitory knew her better than what she liked to admit.

"It's just—"

"Private," they solemnly said at the same time.

"Aren't you at least going to open it?" Loraine suggested, raising an eyebrow.

Rose shook her head. "I don't know yet."

oOo

"So, you and Patrick?" murmured Albus the next day during Herbology class, as he attempted to repot the Mimbulus Mimbletonia Neville had assigned them to take care of. Each couple of students were to care for a different type of plant during the year. They had been assigned to learn the most they could about the plant's properties, benefits and necessities. To obtain a passing grade in this particular assignment the students had to at least return it alive and healthy by the end of the year.

Rose knew that she and Albus had it easy with their plant. Chassity and Loraine could barely handle their Bubotuber.

"Yes, last night," she murmured, filling the new pot with fresh soil. Her cheeks began to burn as a smile developed on her mouth. She bit her lip, restraining her impulse on giving out every single detail, until she looked at Albus again and realized she couldn't keep her silence anymore. "He kissed me," she said softly, and stopped when she saw Albus giving her an unwelcoming look. She raised an eyebrow.

"This is why you should be a woman. If you were a girl I could talk to you about these things," she bitterly complained. "Grab it by the roots," she then directed. Albus carefully grabbed the plant by its root, to avoid being attacked by it.

"Sorry, you're stuck with me," he then said with a grin. "And I'm not interested on listening how much he snogged you last night," he mocked solemnly. Rose punched him softly on the elbow. "Ow! Careful with the plant!" he complained, as he transferred the cactus to the pot Rose had prepped. "So, did he tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That he's the one who's been writing to you," Albus said. Their plant was successfully transferred to the new pot and both of them were spreading dirt over its roots. Rose looked at him, her eyes now filled with worry.

"He didn't say anything about that," she whispered. Albus frowned, and shook his head, mechanically filling the pot with dirt.

"I don't get it. If it isn't him, then—I don't get it."

Rose sighed. "I know."

"Has he sent you anything else?" Albus quickly questioned. Rose bit her lip, nodding softly.

"Last night."

Albus' frown grew even more as he extended his dirty hand towards her, waiting for her to give him the piece of paper he knew she was carrying with her. Rose exhaled strongly and reached for her bag, from where she drew out the small piece of parchment and handed it to Albus. He discreetly unfolded it, and looked at her gravely after reading it.

"_Give me all the peace and Joy in your mind_...?" he whispered. "What the—"

"I know," her voice trembled accidently. "A bit...strange...isn't it?"

"Strange? A bit of a stalker if you ask me," he said harshly.

"I know!" she clenched her teeth. "And what am I supposed to do about this now?"

"Well," he said, his voice strong and serious. "We'll have to figure out who this bloke is and _make_ him stop," he demanded.

Rose raised her eyebrow sharply. "That's it? That's your great plan?"

"We'll keep both our eyes open. He'll have to slip at some point." He stared into the parchment. "It could be anyone."

"At least now I know it isn't Patrick," she said, highly relieved.

"It could be him too, you know."

"Doesn't sound like him at all."

"Someone could be writing these things for him," Albus cleverly pointed out.

"Oh, don't complicate this even more," she exasperatedly said. "Listen, first things first. We have to figure out the writer's motive for doing this in the first place."

"The _writer_? That's how you named him? You mean the _stalker_," he corrected, handing the paper back to her. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Stop worrying so much, I'm sure it's a stupid, distasteful joke someone's trying to play on me." Rose took the paper from his hands with an effusive excess of strength. Her elbow accidently hit the Mimbulus Mimbletonia, which immediately began to twirl like crazy, spewing a strange substance all over the greenhouse. Screams and complaints fell out of the students' mouths as the plant's substance tainted their heads and clothes. Rose and Albus, on the other hand, where already hiding underneath the table to avoid being spewed by their angry cactus.

"Good one, Rose," Albus laughed at her.

"Shut up," she mumbled, restraining a chuckle, as she heard Neville trying to restore the order of the greenhouse.

Fortunately, both Albus and Rose were the only students able to walk out of the greenhouse almost completely clean, and with nothing more than five points taken off their house for the incident.

"I've got Muggle Studies now," Rose announced, studying her schedule.

"Free period," Albus said happily. "Look at that bloke, it could be him," he said, pointing at a seventh year Ravenclaw who was sitting lonely in a corner. "Or him," he then said, as they passed by a Hufflepuff who held the hand of a girl from his same house. Rose laughed softly. "Or her," he said, looking at a girl Rose didn't even know.

"Al! It's not a woman!"

"It could be," he mocked with a shrug, before she rolled her eyes at him. Once they reached the castle again, they walked in separate ways, Albus taking the path to their common room and Rose to her Muggle studies' classroom. She wasn't the first to arrive. Most of the tables were occupied by Gryffindor students. It didn't surprise her at all the little amount of Slytherins that were in the room, only Serena Fagan and Eugenia Vogel occupied a table. It wasn't very common to have Slytherins interested in the studies of muggles. She sighed and went to sit at an empty table. She was already missing her fellow Hufflepuffs.

She opened her book, and wondered her eyes over the general assignments they would be having. She re-read the first subject: _Muggle Literature_, and smiled. Hugo would surely have a blast when he reached sixth year. He had already read half the Muggle novels in their mum's bookshelf. She didn't get how he had time for that but didn't find the time to read for his actual assignments at school.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Rose recognized that deep voice. She looked up, Scorpius was standing beside her, waiting for an answer. She shrugged as a response, and looked around the classroom. The few tables that were empty when she entered had been occupied in the past minutes. She cleared the side of the table from her things.

Scorpius sat quietly, and Rose, without glancing at her new companion, went back to reading the book.

"How was your summer?" he softly asked. Rose's head turned slowly towards him. She did her best to restrain a frown. She tried to recollect the times they had held a conversation and couldn't remember one.

During their six years as classmates they had spoken to each other only when strictly necessary. Nothing ever went past a formal greeting or asking and answering a question that regarded a very specific academic subject. Scorpius just wasn't the sort of being that inspired a fluent conversation.

Their very first year at Hogwarts had been the determinative factor. Since the week of her arrival a series of rumours unfolded throughout the school. Not only had the second son of the legendary Harry Potter entered Hogwarts, but also who was said to be the son of one of his biggest enemies, _and_ most important: one of his biggest failures, because all the school was very well informed of the fact that the Malfoy family had a criminal mark that tainted their name, and that Harry Potter invested a lot of time and effort the first years after the war had ended to put both Lucius and Draco Malfoy in Azkaban, but couldn't accomplish the level of justice he had been attempting. He gathered enough proof to arrest Lucius Malfoy, but after seven years of trials and constant appeals, the Malfoy family was capable of releasing him.

Both Rose and Albus paid little importance to all of it at first; but then it became almost impossible to be indifferent about the subject. Everybody had a comment, a story, and an anecdote they swore to be true. The students at Hogwarts unleashed numerous rumours that qualified Scorpius as the only descendant from an ancestral family of deatheaters that was waiting for the right moment to strike back, and revenge themselves for their last defeat.

In less than a few months the older students avoided Scorpius Malfoy, the younger ones feared him, and although Rose didn't believe any of that hall gossiping, she noticed how little that bothered Scorpius, and at times she figured he enjoyed the bad publicity. His suspicious way of looking at people, his refusal to follow basic rules -like insisting on practicing at the Quidditch pitch during night time-, his sneaking about the castle at night, and specially his constant experimenting with Potions that were above his level proved to Rose that the boy was in fact rather strange. Dangerous, no, she doubted that. Weird, yes, certainly.

None of that would have made a difference to her, if it hadn't been for the instinctive rivalry that developed between them in second year, when he qualified as a Keeper in the Slytherin team and Rose as a Chaser. Fortunately, she demonstrated to be faster than him at Quidditch, but she didn't enjoy the same luck with Potions. He was admirably talented, and he knew it, and she hated the fact that he knew it so well. Now that she wasn't in the Quidditch team, she didn't have something she could beat him at, and she truly disliked how he managed to outshine her within seconds. She, of course, would never admit just how much that irritated her.

Rose blinked, she had been asked a question.

"Summer was...great," she told him softly, still swimming in slight disbelief. She had never pictured him taking Muggle studies. It simply didn't fit his stereotype. He seemed contempt with her response and was looking up front at the empty desk of their professor. Rose opened her mouth, suddenly intrigued.

"Have you always taken Muggle Studies?" she asked him. Scorpius turned his solemn grey eyes towards her. He nodded twice.

"Since third year," he said. She frowned, and opened her lips to ask him why he had chosen this particular subject. Slytherins weren't normally attracted to it, most of them considered it unnecessary for a wizard school to waste time teaching about muggles. Rose didn't expect them to understand it anymore. She had concluded that Slytherins simply had a different way of seeing life, they preferred to live in a bubble where only wizards subsisted, and anything else was redundant, insignificant.

Her attempt to ask the question was interrupted when the professor, Mrs. McDuff, entered the classroom and put an end to the common chatter.

The professor took off with a general explanation about the importance of literature in the muggle world, and their lack of resources to expand their writings, something that led them to invent the non-magical press. From then she took off by mentioning some of the most important muggle writers of Europe.

Scorpius had returned to his normal state of silence, while Rose couldn't help glancing every other minute at her companion, who now and then wrote down on his parchment.

"That's not how you spell Shakespeare," she heard herself say, before realizing how noisy she was being. Albus had always warned her to control her impulse of tutoring people when they didn't ask for help.

"What?" he frowned. She shook her head, and looked up front.

"Sorry. I saw it accidently," she quickly said, staring at the professor instead.

"How do you spell it, then?" he whispered, placing his quill on the table, next to her. Rose turned to him again, to find that he really was waiting to be corrected. She lifted his quill up and leaned slightly forward to write in a corner of his parchment. She then found that _Othello_ was missing an _L_, and she couldn't restrain herself from fixing that as well.

She looked at him momentarily; a very small, almost compromised smile had developed on his lips.

"Thanks," he whispered, she shrugged, released his quill and returned herself to her initial sitting position. He didn't say anything else after that, and she suddenly began to notice the dry silence she hadn't noticed before.

It was awfully weird, because nothing was different and yet everything was.

She had sat next to him a couple of times before -not that she could remember any particular times but she was sure they existed-, she had stood beside him countless times as well, surely. During those brief encounters hey almost never talked, and she didn't expect him to talk, nobody did, he only spoke freely to his own friends, one in particular: Thomas Judd, a rather pleasant Slytherin, far more eloquent than Scorpius.

Today they had exchanged a few sentences, insignificant, meaningless, and yet detonators of a social tension. Now the silence between them didn't feel normal to her as it always did, it seemed uncomfortable.

Rose didn't look at him again during the entire hour, but couldn't stop acknowledging that he was in fact sitting next to her, writing, listening, paying attention to the lesson, and probably misspelling more muggle words. The effort she did to avoid looking at his parchment again was colossal.

"For our next class," Mrs. McDuff announced, "You will write an essay pointing out: the especial advantages the invention of the press brought to the muggle society._"_ The stern woman fixed her glasses uninterestedly, while the classroom complained claiming that it was still too early in the year to be writing essays. Most students looked clueless about what they were being asked. "And…" she continued. "You will read chapters one and two on your textbooks." The gasps and complaints got even louder. Rose felt lucky that she had already read the first chapter. "And don't forget, you'll have to choose a muggle classic to read for your project by the end of the month."

The room got even louder, but Professor McDuff, careless to the complaints as ever, dismissed the class and turned to leave. Rose slowly turned her head around to her companion, Scorpius was frowning deeply. He, too, seemed clueless. His head turned and before she could look away, his heavy glance met with hers. His almost inquiring sight made her want to say something to fill the silence.

"McDuff can be pretty intense," she said, regretting the emptiness of the comment, but he gave out a small smile.

"Tell me about it," he shook his head, looking lost in thought.

That was it, silence returned to settle between them. Rose decided not to put up with it any longer. She gathered her books and parchments to put them away and stood up quickly, ready to leave.

"Rose," he suddenly said. She looked down at him. That was probably the first time he called her by her first name...that she remembered of.

"Yes?"

He stood up, frowning softly. "Um—you've got—" he raised his hand but then lowered it again. "You've got something in your hair."

"What?"

Scorpius pointed towards her head and Rose reached for the place his index finger was indicating. She ran her fingers down her loose, soft curls and touched the strange, thick substance.

"Oh, brilliant," she murmured, her neck suddenly warm, flushing in embarrassment. "—it's nothing. My Mimbulus Mimbletonia got out of control today," she explained, trying to get the substance out of her hair.

"Herbology," he acknowledged with a nod. "You're lucky, you know. I'm stuck with a young Mandragora," he lifted his hand at her and rolled his sleeve up an inch to show her his wrist, his silky white skin was damaged with what looked like a rather huge bite."

"That must have hurt!" she told him in concern, feeling tempted to grab his wrist and examine the wound more closely, but restrained herself. "Did you—"

"—put slug ointment on it? Yeah, I did," he sufficiently said, rolling his sleeve down again. Rose nodded. Of course, Mr. McPotions had to know exactly what to use. She looked around and found that they were the only ones left in the classroom, the feeling of it made her walk to the door, he followed.

"Then you'll survive, it'll heal in a few days," she said reaching the door. "But, you know, if you use dragon scales instead the wound will close within minutes," she suggested with a persuasive voice, restraining a mischievous grin. Scorpius raised his right eyebrow immediately, sharply, his face suspicious. She bit her lip.

"Sure, only that dragon scales sting like hell," his deep voice said.

Damn, he really was good. She chuckled softly. "Oh, right," she said with much faked innocence. "I forgot."

Scorpius' lips curved, turning into a smirk she had never seen on him, or never got to contemplate so closely. "I'm sure you did," he laughed softly. "Thanks for caring, Weasley," he said with transparent sarcasm. She didn't know that he had an ironical sense of humour.

"Anytime," she said with a shameless smile, now gazing at his grey eyes. She also hadn't had the chance of studying them so closely, to appreciate the odd colour.

"Rose!" another voice said from behind. She turned, and saw Patrick walking up to them. "I was waiting for you. Ready to go?" he asked, taking her hand swiftly, his brown eyes fixated on her, not once did he glance at Scorpius.

"Oh—yeah, sure—" she snapped. "—I'll see you later," she directed one last look at Scorpius, whom Patrick had completely ignored. He made no readable gesture and she felt herself being pulled away from him.

oOo

_Artist: Lily Allen_

Lyrics:

_It's five o'clock_  
_In the morning_  
_Conversation got boring_  
_You said you'd go_  
_Into bed soon_  
_So I snuck off_  
_To your bedroom_

_And I thought_  
_I'd just wait there_  
_Untill I heard you_  
_Come up the stairs_  
_And I pretended_  
_I was sleeping_  
_And I was hoping_  
_You would creep in_  
_With me_

_You put your arm_  
_Around my shoulder_  
_And it was_  
_As if the room_  
_Got colder_  
_And we moved closer_  
_In together_  
_Started talking about_  
_The weather_

_You said tomorrow_  
_Would be fun_  
_We could watch_  
_A place in the sun_  
_I didn't know_  
_Where this was going_  
_When you kissed me_

_Are you mine?_  
_Are you mine?_  
_Cause I stay here_  
_All the time_  
_Watching tele_  
_Drinking wine_  
_Let's just say_  
_Who'd have known?_  
_When you'd flash up_  
_On my phone_  
_I'd no longer_  
_Feel alone_  
_No longer_  
_Feel alone_


	4. Talk to Me

_A/N: Thank you for your comments so far, your suggestions and your general opinions on the characters and plot =D. You made my day with each review. Please, keep sharing your thoughts._

**Talk to Me**

Rose sat carefully at the Gryffindor table, trying to maintain her balance. She couldn't withdraw a huge sigh. Loraine looked up at her, as if trying to make out each of her moves. Rose looked at both sides of the long table, at one end was Patrick, taking a seat next to his friends. After spending the entire afternoon with each other, they had decided to eat with their respective friends.

"Where's Al?" Rose asked in confusion, but no one was able to give her an answer. Instead, it was Lily the one who suddenly walked up to her to sit in what would have been Albus' spot. The petit Red head sat in silence, her light brown eyes directed towards Rose.

"What?" Rose questioned with a frown.

"Nothing," she said suspiciously, her eyes still fixated on Rose, something that made her uncomfortable.

"Lily, what it is?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Nothing! Well," she hesitated. "I just heard you were going out with some guy, that's all."

Rose exhaled strongly. "Stop calling him _some_ _guy_, and who told you?"

"Hugo."

"Brilliant," she rolled her eyes.

"So, what's up with that?" Lily reproached. Rose's eyes widened, not understanding her cousin's reaction to the situation.

"What's up with what?"

"I just didn't know you fancied him, that's all. I didn't know you fancied anyone, for that matter," she said, sounding concerned. Rose remained still and silent. Lily's noisiness was throwing her off.

"Lily, it's not really any of your business—"

"Yes, it is! I care about who you date."

"Since when?"

"I don't think I like Patrick," she explained, lifting her chin, showing herself to be firm about the situation.

"So?" she chuckled, loud and sarcastically. "You don't have to like him! I do!"

Lily frowned, looking offended. She reached for the bowl that was full of chicken. Rose shook her head softly, anticipating the series of events that were about to unleash. Hugo and Lily were aware of the fact that she had a new boyfriend, and it was a matter of time before everybody in her family found out. The communication chain wasn't shocking at all, but what really surprised her was Lily's position towards the situation. Her young cousin was somehow a matchmaker. Ever since she was little she adored seeing two people getting together, so her particular reaction was rather strange. Rose didn't touch any of the food that was served on the table, for the next minute she stared at Lily.

"Alright, according to you, what's wrong with Patrick?" she snapped. Lily looked at her innocently.

"Nothing's wrong," Lily said, awfully melodic, extending her arm to hide one of Rose's curls behind her ear.

"Then?"

"I just think you can do sooo much better," she empathized.

"And what makes you think that?"

"No particular reason," she shrugged.

Rose shook her head, squirting her eyes in suspicion.

"Whatever Lily," she concluded in resignation. When she turned to reach for the pumpkin juice, she found that a very disoriented Albus had returned and was taking a seat in front of her.

"Where were you?" she asked bitterly.

"Around," he said evasively, looking at his empty plate. Rose raised her eyebrow as she watched him serve dinner for himself. Her eyes then wondered at the two brothers, who almost never sat close to each other during their meals. Both of them were utterly concentrated in filling their plates, with the same evasive faces. Rose frowned, but assumed that she'd soon find out what was going on with each of them. She had decided to start by serving some potatoes in her plate, when Lily's squeal startled her.

"James!" the girl complained.

"Hey little Puffskein (1)," James had approached them, and his right hand had messed Lily's hair completely. The girl never appreciated her older brother's rough demonstration of affection.

"Piss off!" she ordered, utterly upset. James smiled widely, tucking his hand in his pocket.

"Watch it with the language Lil, it might cost you your place in the team for the first game of the year," he retorted, with a grin that Rose knew would alter Lily's temper even more.

"Shut up. You wouldn't kick me off the team if your life depended on it," Lily retorted, with an infuriated tone of voice.

"Rose," he then said, his face now changing drastically from mischievous to solemn. "It's you I wanted to talk to."

"What about?" she softly said, wishing with all her heart that it wasn't what she was thinking.

"Patrick."

That was exactly what she was thinking. She snorted in frustration.

"Hugo told you too?" she asked, but James shook his head, which made Rose turn her now stern eyes towards Lily.

"I didn't tell him! I swear!" she immediately defended herself.

"Rose, I share a dorm with the bloke," he reminded her. Rose felt her cheeks blushing fervently. She had already wondered if Patrick had mentioned anything about her in front of James, and if he did she could only hope he had been discreet. James was a rather liberal and "cool" sort of male when it came to dating. But if it were his sister or one of his cousins the ones involved in the dating ritual, his coolness would melt in a matter of seconds. He was annoyingly jealous and protective about them, and that always made her hide her love interests as long as she could. But she already knew that Patrick would be hard to hide, being in James' same house and year. She could only hope for Patrick to be smart enough as to keep his mouth shut about her whenever James was around.

"So, what? You don't like the _bloke_ either?" She said, drowning herself in annoyance. She realized that the only Potter who hadn't said anything yet was Albus. James shrugged indifferently.

"He better know he has to be careful with you," James pointed out simply, with a tad of menace in his voice. Rose sighed.

"He knows he has to be careful with _you_, James," she retorted.

"Good enough," he said, his face softening. "See you later," he smiled and walked a couple of feet forward, to the end of the table, where his friends, and even Patrick were already having dinner.

"Talk about an intervention," Rose murmured, and she heard Albus chuckling in front of her.

oOo

The weekend went by passively, at least for those who refused to get their homework done on time. For Rose, though, the entire weekend was about two things and two things only: studying for school and studying Patrick. She spent a good deal of the weekend getting her assignments done, but a greater deal was spent taking long walks with the guy of her interest. By walks she meant, getting as far from human eyes as possible.

The next Monday, as she walked with Albus towards the Potions classroom, Rose held open that day's Daily Prophet.

"No news on the fugitives," she said, he wrinkled his mouth in disappointment. "I'm sure they'll catch them soon," Rose added, doing her best at sounding convincing.

"Yeah," Albus whispered vaguely, his eyes suddenly looking over the crowd. Rose caught his distracted behaviour once again, the same one he had been showing for the entire week.

"Al, honestly, who are you looking for?" she demanded. Albus turned to face her, already throwing a small, innocent grin at her direction.

"Nobody," his answer was quiet as they walked inside the classroom.

"Right," she threw her bag on the desk and wondered her eyes around the room, while Albus opened his textbook. As she scanned the room she accidently caught sight of Scorpius, sitting at one of the last tables with his friend Thomas Judd. She unconsciously studied the pair. Thomas was the type of guy who could make a crowd burst into laughter in less than a minute. Scorpius on the other hand was the type of guy rarely seen in a crowd. She wondered what it was that they had in common -besides the fact that they were both Slytherins- to stay friends all those years.

The blond boy, object of her shameless observation turned his grey eyes towards her, making Rose turn her head up front in a swift move. With the skin of her face suddenly warm, she looked at Albus instead.

"Al, did I tell you that Scorpius is in my muggle Studies class?"

"You told me," he answered distracted.

"Did I tell you he sat with me?"

Albus turned his head slightly towards her. "No, you didn't," he answered, a very small frown taking over his forehead. She hadn't told him, because if she told him, then she would have been making a big deal out of it, and it certainly wasn't a big deal at all.

"So?" He asked

"Nothing. But it was a bit...weird," she whispered. Albus lifted his head an inch, to wonder his eyes at Scorpius for a second.

"Weird? How come?"

"Yes. He was strange and awkward."

"Maybe_you_ were the strange and awkward one," he laughed. Rose sighed.

"Maybe I was," she whispered seriously.

"Listen Rose," Albus began, his tone of voice changing considerably. He looked at Scorpius one more time before continuing. "It could be him, you know."

Rose gave him an incredulous look, before she interpreted Albus' silence to assume that it was one very bad joke. "Very funny Al."

"No, I'm not joking."

"Stop it," she demanded softly.

"I'm serious!" he made it clear, and Rose sat still for a very long second, the impulse of turning around again to look at Scorpius one more time was becoming unbearable, but she restrained.

"Why would it be him?" she whispered. Albus fixed his glasses and leaned forward.

"Well, I've seen him staring this way a couple of times. I've even seen him staring in our way during Defence against the dark arts, as well. And honestly Rose, I feel a lot better thinking it's you he's looking at, rather than me."

"Good one Al," she chuckled mockingly, highly disapproving Albus' terrible sense of humour.

"What? You don't think Malfoy could fancy you?"

"Why would he?"

"Why wouldn't he?" he asked, shrugging slightly. Rose shot one last glance at his cousin, trying to measure in the intensity of his eyes just how serious he was being. When he didn't blink, not even once, she preferred to shake her head and open her textbook.

Professor Maddock entered the room and sat at the edge of his desk, moving his wand towards the blackboard, where the guidelines to a powerful sleeping potion where magically appearing.

"Before we get started," he said, lowering his wand once he was finished with the writing. "I'm afraid we'll have to make some minor adjustments. Professor Slade has requested you to sit with someone different than your usual Potions partner."

Rose and Albus looked at each other, the classroom's response was rather loud, the students from both houses complained, making clear how silly it was to have to go through all that when they already were in their sixth year.

"Oh, don't think that this is any fun for me," the Professor complained with a frown. "You'll all be twice as slow if you're working with someone you're not used to. So, to make this a bit faster, do you mind just changing places?" he ordered with a very unpleased tone of voice, waving his hands at the students.

Rose sighed, scanning the room in a fast move. Loraine was leaving the table she shared with Chassidy, and Thomas was taking her old seat.

"Oh brilliant, I'll have to sit with Loraine, I can feel it."

"So?"

"So? She's too noisy. I'll probably spend the entire class avoiding all the personal questions she asks. You should hear the things they talk about in our dormitory."

"Really? What _things_?" Albus asked, his eyebrow raised suspiciously, suddenly interested.

"Oh, give me a break," she rolled her eyes. "You can sit with her if you find it so interesting."

"No way. You're a girl, you should be able to talk to girls about girly stuff."

"Oh shut up."

"I'm sitting with Henry, good luck," he quickly said, as he stood up and walked towards Henry Carter, one of the guys he shared a dorm with.

"Al!"

She turned around, Scorpius was alone, but she hesitated. Albus' supposition might have been just that, a supposition, but that was certainly not going to make things less awkward with him. She knew herself far too well, and she was going to spend the rest of the class overanalysing the guy, trying to find in him things that might turn him into a suspect.

Scorpius' deep glance met hers, she stared at him for a few seconds, and he sustained the eye contact firmly. She had two easy choices: the girl who talked her elbows off, and tended to blow up things because of her lack of attention, or the strange boy with an unexplainably great talent for potions that always topped hers. Not to mention that her curious nature begged her to sit with him, just to dedicate the next two hours to studying his behaviour.

"Do you mind?" she shrugged once she was standing in front of him.

"Not at all," he said, welcoming her with a small hand gesture. She carefully sat by him and silently proceeded to settle her books and parchments on her side of the table, next to the cauldron they would be sharing together.

Rose wrote the guidelines to the sleeping potion on her parchment. In spite of the chattering that had taken over the classroom, she could feel a deafening silence on the perimeter she shared with Scorpius. Her quill made uncomfortably loud noises as it scratched the words on the parchment. Rose's eyes were firm on what she was writing, and her loose curls had slowly developed a curtain between her face and her partner. She couldn't see any of him, and couldn't confirm if his heavy eyes were looking at her or not. The only thing she could see through the corner of her left eye was an intense shade of her own red hair.

With a meditated move she raised her fingers, and softly hid her soft curls behind her left ear, realizing that Scorpius had been concentrated on writing down on his parchment as well. With the same hand she took the rest of her loose, long hair and pushed it back, behind her neck. The movement made him raise his eyes, to look at her for a long moment.

"Can anyone tell me what ingredient this list is missing?" The professor's voice travelled heavily from the front of the classroom, and between Rose and Scorpius. She shook her head and looked up front, knowing that her companion was doing the same.

Nobody answered, and the Professor shook his head in disappointment, a technique he used to manipulate the students into breaking the fear of being wrong.

"Nobody? How terrible. I didn't think a simple sleeping potion would fool you," he said. Rose did a great effort not to roll her eyes. Professor Maddock's Potions were rarely on their textbook, how he assumed they were to find them simple was beyond Rose.

She studied the blackboard next to the Professor. Beside a thing or two, the list of ingredients was very close to what any sleeping potion would need. She then remembered that anything she said would probably be less than what Scorpius had to say.

"Go on," she whispered dryly, her eyes still fixed on the blackboard. "Say it."

"What?" Scorpius whispered back.

"Say the ingredient the list is missing."

"I'm not sure what it is."

She turned her head, squirting her eyes. "Yes you do. You always know."

Scorpius' long fingers wandered on the pages of his textbook. "Not this time," he said then. Rose contemplated him, suspiciously, he didn't take his eyes away from the book.

"So, no one will win their house an easy forty points?" the professor offered.

Rose couldn't hold her hand back anymore, she lifted her arm in a swift move and the teacher gave her permission to speak.

"Horned toads' nails Sir, to assure that the person won't stop breathing during their sleep."

Maddock nodded very softly, unsatisfied with the answer. Rose wrinkled her lips in disappointment.

"Thank you Miss Weasley, but we need something stronger. Anybody else care to try?"

"Wait, that can't be right," Scorpius was saying, reading a very specific page of his textbook. Rose turned to him in disbelief."

"You must be joking," she chuckled.

"No, Horned Toads' nails aren't enough—here it is, got it," he said, raising his hand as well.

"Oh, please, you can't be serious!" she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms firmly.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Lacewing Flies, sir," he said, his thumb set on a portion of the page that explained the properties of that specific insect. "They steady the cardiac and respiratory system, while allowing the wizard who made the Potion to control exactly how long the person will be sleeping."

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy. Forty points to Slytherin," he rewarded. Rose's breathing increased, her neck suddenly warm. She turned to Scorpius, and saw him writing on his parchment.

"You did it again!" she heard herself scold. Her indignation won her over. Scorpius looked at her, frowning slightly.

"Did what?" he whispered, looking thrown off.

"You always wait for me to talk, and when I screw up you go and give out a bright answer!" she said, her whispers a little louder than usual. She bit her lip, the Professor was speaking and any loud comments from her behalf would win her detention. "You always do that!" she lowered her voice again.

"No, I don't," he denied, frowning harder.

"Yes, you do!"

"I don't," he said, his voice dry.

"You do!"

"Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, do you mind?" professor Maddock said loudly. "Or would you rather take your discussion to detention?"

"Sorry Sir," They said in unison. Rose looked up front, her neck still warm from the resentment. She breathed deeply to calm herself down, and out of nowhere she felt Scorpius' body leaning towards her. He had approached only a few inches, but that was enough for her to feel his perfume. She had not smelled it before. It was soft and discreet, as if hidden well under his clothes, to be smelled only by those who were extremely close to him. With the smell of the essence she unexplainably thought of warm spices, and soft critics. The pleasant aroma became suddenly strong.

"Sometimes, you say... very specific things that help me remember that I read the answer somewhere else. That's all," his deep voice whispered, close to her.

Rose stared at him, her eyebrows curving; the profound fragrance had fogged her head.

"What?" she mumbled at the incomprehensible explanation he had given out. A very small smile was built on his lips.

"What I mean is...you say the right things, you help me get closer," he said simply. She somehow couldn't or wouldn't believe him.

"You're welcome, then" she said dryly, and he laughed softly, probably the first laugh she heard while being so closely to him. Rose remembered then that a few feet away the Professor was giving an explanation she knew she shouldn't be missing.

"...and the Lacewing flies are the best options for this strong sleeping potion, because unless you use them, the person who drinks it might end up in an irreversible sleep, and you don't want to put a person to sleep for months, do you?"

The female crowd chuckled softly. Professor Maddock had a way of involuntarily charming the girls of the class. But the Professor's comment made Rose think of how much easier Potions class would be without Malfoy intercepting every single one of her answers.

"It depends on whom I give it to," Rose said, soft enough to be heard by Scorpius only. He chuckled again, shaking his head. "I'd give it to certain people so they skip Potions class now and then," she continued, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

"I would never take a potion that came from you, Weasley. You might just slip the wrong ingredients and kill me instead," he softly said, grinning slightly. Rose's jaw dropped, a sense of anger and uncertainty developed inside of her. She had been "joking" with her previous comment. Had he been "joking" as well? Or did he really believe her to be that incompetent when it came to Potion making? She was second in her class, after all, and he couldn't believe _that_ much of his own self. She breathed in for dear patience.

"Oh, don't worry, I wouldn't kill you, not accidently at least," she said under her breath. She heard him laugh again, and a grin developed in her lips, first roughly, then freely.

She then admitted to herself that working with him wasn't hard at all. They barely had to consult the textbook during the brewing of the sleeping potion. Rose had a photographic memory, and she easily remembered ingredients and their properties. Scorpius, on the other hand, had the ability of knowing the exact quantities that would work correctly. He also knew hidden properties to the ingredients that Rose had never heard of, something that only came with experience.

Their hour of teamwork produced a perfect sleeping potion that made Rose's eyes feel heavy just by the smell of it. Maddock was highly impressed and awarded them with ten points for each of their houses. But Rose couldn't let go of the fact that he knew much more than any bright student.

"You're quite advanced for your year," Rose admitted, as she poured their potion into a clean jar. Scorpius held the jar steadily, he shrugged.

"Thanks..." he murmured.

"Didn't you ever consider on talking to Professor Maddock? You could have been placed with the seventh year Potions class."

He looked at her, frowning again. "What for?"

"Well, next year you'd have some free time and you could do other stuff," she pointed out.

"What stuff?" he chuckled.

"You could take an extra elective class...or, I don't know...stuff," she shrugged. She couldn't believe that he didn't see the advantages her idea would bring.

Scorpius grinned, closing the jar once it was full.

"You'd do anything to knock me out of your way, wouldn't you, Weasley? Prescript me dragon scales, poison me to sleep, move me to another level."

Rose sat still for a few seconds, holding the jar, her eyes squirting. "Never mind," she rolled her eyes, handing the jar to the professor. "Forget what I said," she whispered dryly, regretting the sort of compliment she had just given away. Scorpius laughed softly, seeming pleased.

Before standing up Rose turned her head around, Albus had left the classroom. Feeling awfully tired she stood up from her seat and picked her bag lazily. Her eyes suddenly began to doze off, instinctively.

"Here, take this," Scorpius said, handing her a small green leaf she happened to recognize.

"Mint?" she asked, estranged. He nodded.

"It'll wear off the sleepy sensation you're feeling right now," he explained.

"Oh," Rose took the small leaf and placed it in her mouth, to prove that Scorpius' recipe was in fact, right.

They walked out of the classroom together, and without noticing they took off together as well. Rose had figured that the previous hours of class would have broken the ice by now. But she couldn't have been more mistaken. Their walk down the hall was insanely silent. She turned to look at him more than once, as discreetly as it was possible, and the only thing she found out was that he didn't seem uncomfortable at all with his own silence. Rose, on the other hand, was feeling the unpleasant fog of awkwardness taking over.

"So, how's it going with your essay for muggle Studies?" she asked. She had to say something. Normal people talked during social situations.

Scorpius shook his head softly. "Not very good, actually," he admitted. "I don't see the big difference between the invention of the muggle press and the wizard press."

"You don't?" she asked in amazement.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, the wizard press turned into a useful invention to print wizard books and journals, but we never really needed that to divulge information, did we?"

"I guess," he whispered, keeping his steady pace, his hands inside his pockets.

"But the muggle press...that was an entirely new world for them! They never wrote or reproduced books with magic, they had to handwrite them all! And news arrived very slowly from town to town before the newspaper was invented. Muggles couldn't transport as fast as us, and they didn't have owls! It was like...their first expansion! Communication took an entirely different meaning after the press was invented!" she said, suddenly possessed by excitement. She realized her emotions with the subject were getting out of hand. Scorpius was staring at her intently; maybe a little scared with her reaction. She felt herself blushing, and hoped she wasn't being too obvious. "Um...that's basically it," she softly said, crossing her arms in self-consciousness.

"Thanks," he simply said, looking up front. "I didn't know all that."

Rose looked at him again, she wondered if she should take advantage of his slight disposition to talk. She decided she would.

"Have you picked the Muggle classic you'll read?" Rose asked. Scorpius shook his head. Maybe she should just shut up, unless she wanted it all to end in a very uninteresting monologue.

"No, I have no idea what I'm going to read yet," he then said. "I don't really know many muggle classics."

"She gave us a list of recommendations," she pointed out.

"The list came from a mid-age, not very interesting woman. I'm not entirely excited."

"True," she bit her lip. "I could recommend you something if you want," she said, regretting it immediately. She really needed to shut up, maybe he didn't want her help, maybe he was just wondering how to get rid of her, and to top it all: shouldn't she be wondering how to get rid of him by now? He wasn't exactly a very eloquent companion, after all.

"Cool," he said with a soft grin. "I'd like that." She grinned back at him.

"Scorpius."

"Yes?"

"Why are you taking muggle studies?" she asked. Scorpius looked at her intently. She suddenly felt that the question had fallen out of place.

"What's wrong with me taking Muggle Studies?" he asked, frowning very slightly.

"Nothing! Just that you're not the type, that's all," she shrugged.

"Oh. What type am I, then?" he asked, his deep voice sounded stern to her ears. Again, his grey eyes seemed to move in an unusual way, a way that did nothing but freeze her to the ground.

"Um, I don't know—I just," Now that he had asked that question, she honestly didn't know what the big deal was with him taking muggle studies. She felt highly prejudice about him. "I just—thought that—"

"I despised Muggles?" he finished for her.

"No! I mean, I couldn't possibly think that! I barely know you."

"You got that right, Weasley," he told her softly, but dryly. "See you around." He backed off, and walked away from her, taking his piercing eyes with him.

Rose felt herself panting, analysing the point where she might have insulted him. Or was he overreacting? She didn't think a little misunderstanding could annoy someone so much. Unless he had been looking for a moment to get away from her unstoppable shatter. If that was the case, then she couldn't really blame him.

oOo

Foot Note:

(1)Puffskein: "A long-tongued custard-coloured little furball that makes a calming purring noise. These pleasant creatures are often kept as pets, particularly by Wizarding children." Found in_Fantastic Beasts and where to find them._In this case, Puffskein is one of the many nicknames James uses with Lily.

oOo

Artist: Blue Foundation

_Lyrics:_

_It doesn't matter what you say  
Cause it's written on the wall  
There's no need to exaggerate  
But I think this time we spoiled it all_

_We were heading for at spin  
Where we were bound to win  
We were dynamite  
We would scandalize  
And outrage and mesmerize_

_Others stopped where we'd begin  
We were bound to win  
But eventually  
It turned out to be  
A fantasy_

_You say you wanna walk with me  
But you're always on the run  
You're sure you wanna talk to me?  
Cause I say one word and then you're gone_

_Walking in circles around the core  
Tell me what it is  
That you fear, what makes you withdraw?_


	5. Uno

_A/N: I sincerely apologise. Sorry for making you wait longer than usual. There was no way for me to update any sooner. Thanks for your patience, and thanks to those who kept in touch and wrote to me asking for an update =D _

**Uno**

"Wait, don't go yet," Patrick was murmuring, his lips close to Rose's ear. She smiled, but began to pull away from him softly.

"I have a class in about five minutes," she whispered. Patrick took her face with both of his hands and eliminated the distance she had managed to put between them. He pressed his lips against hers and without hesitating she allowed herself to be embraced by his arms.

"Really, I have to go," she regretted, considering for a very split second the possibility of skipping Defence Against the Dark Arts. But the thought abandoned her head faster than it had arrived. She'd never skip a class for a guy, no matter how good of a kisser he was.

"Fine," he said with much regret in his own voice. "I'll see you after lunch?"

Rose nodded, and looked at both sides of the hallway, noticing that they were being the object of observation among the students that walked past them. "But right now I don't feel like bumping into any of my cousins so…"

"Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask you about that," he said, tightening the grip of her hand. James has been acting weird lately. What's up with him?"

"Well he's a bit over protective. It's annoying really," she rolled her eyes.

"I get that, but his attitude...It seems like he loathes me all of a sudden—"

Rose laughed freely. "Loathe you? No! He's just being intimidating. He does that."

"It's mad. It's not like he's your brother."

"He's James," Rose pointed out with a shrug and a small sigh. "And I'm used to him by now, resigned even." She then kissed the corner of his lips briefly. She walked a step backwards and turned to leave, but he pulled her by the arm, and towards him again.

"Wait, one more," he demanded with a grin on his mouth. Rose laughed softly, corresponding that last kiss, until his intensity began to feel slightly out of hand for the place and time of day. She had to put order to the situation and used her strength to free herself from his grip with as much delicacy as possible.

She left her boyfriend at the corner of the hallway, and he took off to Herbology. She walked towards the Defence against the Dark Arts' classroom, clearing her head so she could fully concentrate on school. As hard as it might seem at first, she had to adjust her schedule to make enough time for her boyfriend without disregarding her responsibilities.

Rose stopped cold at the entrance of the classroom. Scorpius had tried to walk inside at the same time as her. She breathed in at the sight of him. The only reason she stood still as a rock for the next seconds was to investigate in his eyes if he was still upset for what had happened earlier that day.

She was even willing to ask him, because if she had insulted him then she wanted to apologise, even when she thought that he was taking her simple assumption too seriously.

"Hey," Scorpius said solemnly, and Rose's mind got stuck in the middle of asking the question and returning the salute. As a result she didn't pronounce a single word. He walked past her and Rose felt as she closed her eyes for a brief but very tight moment. She felt silly for freezing like that, and it was his fault, he was the one who made it difficult for her to develop a normal human conversation.

When she got a hold of herself she walked up to the table where Albus was sitting at and joined him silently. Within very specific, and almost mechanical moves she opened her book to submerge herself in something that wasn't her differences with Scorpius, ignoring Albus almost completely.

"Sorry I left in a hurry after Potions. You were taking long and—"

"It's fine," she said in distraction.

"How did it go with Malfoy?"

"How did what go?"

"I don't know. you seemed to be getting along—"

"It was nothing," she hurried to say. "Nothing, really."

She didn't look away from her book, ignoring the estranged look Albus gave her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, once they were walking out of the classroom again. Of course he was going to insist. She hadn't spoken during the entire class, and to avoid the temptation of glancing at Scorpius she limited herself to write down every single thing the professor had said. Her wrist ached. She probably looked like a freak for those two hours.

"I'm fine Al," she explained vaguely, and walked in absolute silence.

Albus didn't insist with the subject for the rest of the day and Rose felt grateful for it. He was never pushy whenever he noticed that something was making her uncomfortable, and by now she had decided to put every thought that concerned Scorpius and their last misunderstanding to one side.

The next day went by pleasantly. She even felt a dense relieve by the end of it when she realized she hadn't crossed ways with Scorpius. The only times she saw him were during their meals, and she ended up feeling relieved for not having to feel pierced by his dense grey eyes.

But the day after that she knew she wouldn't be so lucky, and when she arrived late for muggle studies –due to Patrick's rather long _see you later_ snogging session- she knew she'd have to sit with him because he would probably be filling the last free table.

And he was.

She tried to walk as silently as possible to avoid disturbing Mrs. McDuff, and took a seat slowly next to the blond, lonely boy.

He turned briefly and saw into her face for less than five seconds. She did the same, only that now, no matter how intently she looked up front she couldn't stop remembering that he was sitting next to her. Impulsively, she turned to him.

"Listen—" they both said in a hard whisper, practically at the same time. A smile slipped out of Scorpius' mouth, while Rose tightened her lips. He gestured with his hand, inviting her to be the first to talk, but she would have preferred it to be him.

"I—I'm sorry if what I said the other day offended you," she explained plainly, noticing that his solemn gesture wasn't changing. "I didn't think it would—I mean," she sighed, to give herself a second to organize her thoughts. "What I mean is that I'm not like that. I don't think all Slytherins despise muggles. That's silly, I—"

"—How about Malfoys?" he whispered. In spite the type of question, he didn't seem to be accusing her. He could have been asking her an academic question and he probably would have used the exact same plain tone.

"No," she answered softly, very thrown off. "I mean, I don't know," she corrected. "But I don't have to generalize, Scorpius," she said, almost whispering his name. "I've only met _you_, after all."

Scorpius raised his eyebrow for a few seconds, but smiled again. Looking contempt with her answer he turned his head towards the teacher's desk.

"Hold on. What were _you_ going to say?"

"Oh, right," he said turning towards her again. "I was going to say that it wasn't a big deal, I overreacted."

She waited, his silence seemed to announce that he wasn't done yet.

"I'm supposed to be used to it by now," he shrugged. She had no retort to that last.

As the class took off the students handed in their essays about the effects the invention of the Muggle press had in the Muggle community. There wasn't much of a chance to talk to him again, Mrs. McDuff had the gift of talking unstoppably from the beginning of the class to its end, mentioning every ten minutes that every single thing she was saying would appear on their exams.

At the end of the class the professor made the general reminder that they had to read a Muggle classic by the end of the month. The entire classroom complained, claiming that they didn't have enough time for that assignment.

Rose rolled her eyes, it didn't matter when the assignment was due, everybody would read their book three days before the deadline anyway. But the professor ended up giving into the class' request and she assigned the book report for the end of November.

"So, do you have a book yet?" she impulsively asked. Stupid question, didn't she have anything better to talk about other than school?

"Rose," Scorpius' slightly rough voice said. "I thought you were going to recommend me something."

"Oh...yes I was," she frowned, then bit her lip momentarily, before kneeling down and pulling a book out of her bag. "Here, take this one. I can't believe it wasn't in Mrs. McDuff's list." He took the book from her hands. "It's Shakespeare," she explained.

"Romeo and Juliette," he read out loud. "Isn't this what you were reading?"

"It's fine," she explained. "I've read it enough times already. I'll borrow a book from Hugo," she shrugged.

"He's your brother, right?"

"Yes. He's a bit of a muggle freak," she chuckled. "We assume he gets his enthusiasm from my grandfather. My dad's father, that is."

Scorpius frowned, confused. "Isn't your grandfather Arthur Weasley? He's not a muggle."

"But he's _another_ muggle freak, but Hugo is already an expert, my Grandpa only—Wait, how did you know that?" she realized.

"He was mentioned last year during Defence Against the Dark Arts, Rose. One of the main members of the Order of The Phoenix."

"Oh, yes, he was."

"I thought you paid more attention," he said, seeming to be teasing her with his small smile.

"And I thought you paid less," she retorted, smirking all of a sudden. He grinned, his eyes fighting some kind of surprised expression, maybe even impressed.

"So, this book, is it any good? I mean, if you've read it more than once I assume you really like it."

"Trust me, you won't be disappointed," she said with enough sufficiency in her voice. He smiled again.

They walked quietly towards the door, but before crossing the frame, Scorpius turned to her.

"This was your last class for the day?" he asked.

"Yes, I don't have anyt—"

She looked outside, Patrick was waiting for her again, his back rested against the wall of the hallway.

"—Oh, I—he's waiting for me so I guess I'll…" she explained gesturing with her hands towards her boyfriend. Scorpius nodded. She felt unexplainably intrigued to see his eyes before leaving, but no expression came from them.

"See you later, then," he said simply. "And thanks," he lifted his arm to show her the book she had lend him, before turning and leaving completely.

"Is he your friend?" Patrick asked, frowning slightly before he leaned down to kiss her lips shortly. "I didn't know you were friends with Malfoy." He slipped his hand to grab hers.

"Friends?" she asked, stunned by the prerogative. "Not friends. We study together."

"He's a bit odd, that bloke. Don't you think?" he added, seeming careless about it. Rose shrugged.

"I don't know, aren't we all odd somehow?"

Patrick laughed softly at her retort, tightening his grip on her.

oOo

Some days take off very well. Rose could tell the second she opened her eyes just how well that day would begin. It was a matter of disposition, she thought, even if waking up in the morning was one of the hardest things she could do. Generally, she overslept at least ten minutes, and ended up rushing herself to arrive at the Great Hall before they cleared the breakfast table.

But that morning Rose didn't have time to predict if the day was going to be a good one or not. When she opened her heavy eyes she found that she was completely alone in her room, an indicator of how late it probably was. She lazily checked the clock on her nightstand. She was almost forty minutes late. Rose jumped off the bed, grabbed her uniform and ran towards the bathroom.

When she reached the Great Hall, her panting made her stop at the entrance to catch some of her own breath back. Students from all years walked by her uninterestedly.

"Overslept?" Albus teased her as he reached her. "This time you missed breakfast."

"I noticed," she breathed in grumpily.

Albus reached for his bag and pulled out something rapped in a napkin. "A sandwich was all I could save," he said, handing it to her. Rose smiled warmly, before she hit his shoulder playfully with her closed fist. "Thanks," she murmured. Albus shrugged.

"We'll be late for Care of Magical Creatures," he gestured with his head and Rose followed, resenting how little she anticipated those lessons, which happened to be Albus' favourite along with Defence Against the Dark Arts. As they walked she unwrapped the warm sandwich and took a small bite.

"Did the mail come in?" she asked, being careful to sound as careless as possible.

"No creepy owl arrived looking for you," he retorted, frowning very slightly. Rose rolled her eyes.

"I'm not asking about that. I was asking for the Daily Prophet," she said.

"Yeah, it arrived, but nothing worth reading. Patrick asked for you," he then added, as if it was the least important of the things that had happened that morning. Rose jumped, almost choking with the bread she was chewing.

"He did?"

"He told me to tell you that he'd look for you after your first class."

"Oh," she didn't fight the pleased smile. "Thanks."

Her dislike towards Care for Magical Creatures was not only because of how dangerous or unnecessarily disgusting the creatures were, it was also about how unpredictable they could turn out to be. Each student was assigned to handle a fire slug, and while Albus' slug slept for almost the entire time he spent cleaning and studying it, Rose's little creature was wide awake and in a grumpy mood.

After the class had ended, Rose's hands were a mixture of burns and tiny bites that ached and stung at the same time. She realized then that her day was probably going to be tougher than other regular school days.

"Coming?" Albus asked when he saw that she stood still at the entrance of the castle.

"Where did Patrick say he'd be?"

Albus shrugged. "He didn't say."

"I'll look for him in the common room, then," she said and turned in a different direction than Albus. She had to make a stop there anyway, the small burns in her hands were beginning to sting even more. She had hidden the wounds from Hagrid, because she was sure that if he saw them, he would worry and make her use one of his questionable ointments. His intentions were loving, but she preferred to put regular slug gel, and she happened to have some in her dorm.

When she reached Gryffindor's common room she didn't find Patrick there as she had expected. Joanne Hagar, a robust girl with a permanent pink blush, who also shared a dorm with her, was kind enough to tell her that he had been asking for her earlier, and Joanne had sent him to Hagrid's hut.

With a very little disposition of turning her free period into a wild goose chase, Rose rushed herself to Hogwarts' grounds. But once there she found that Patrick wasn't waiting for her.

She sighed, and figured that in such a big castle it would be useless to look for him if he was doing the same, and they would eventually run into each other. The pain of her hands came back to Rose, and she figured that it was safer to go to the Hospital Wing and treat her wounds with a professional.

The little bites of her hand were beating, making her walk an endless one. She reached the castle, and stopped for a second to consider which would be the shortest way to get to the Hospital Wing. She remembered a stairway that begun on the second floor, and that not everybody knew about. She took off and walked up the stairs and into a lonely hallway that was a shortcut to her destination, her hands burning by now.

When she reached the end of the hall and turned at the corner she stopped cold, her feet nailing to the floor, her breath suddenly short.

Heather Ockley, a tall Ravenclaw from seventh year, had her hands and lips all over a man that, figuratively speaking, belonged to Rose.

The fainted gasp that fought to escape her throat told the two people who were snogging that she was witnessing the scene. Patrick turned around abruptly, freeing himself almost violently from the brunette. His face lost colour at the sight of Rose.

She took a step back, her feet begging her to run off. The little stains of her hands were no longer burning, the stinging sensation had transferred to her chest.

"Rose...wait," he said faintly, pushing the other girl away. But the satisfied smile that developed on Heather's lips was enough to set Rose's anger to another level. Her lower lip trembled, and she walked back again, fighting the temptation of withdrawing her wand. When she felt Patrick approaching her even more she couldn't help turning and running away.

Her mind was colliding with the image or Heather grabbing his face so tightly, and pressing her lips fiercely against his. She heard him calling after her and soon her feet and speed betrayed her and Patrick grabbed her by her aching wrist and forced her to stop running.

"Stay away from me," she ordered, hissing the words.

"Rose, listen, wait, give me five minutes to explain."

Rose felt something boiling inside of her. The words had fed her anger even more.

"Let go!" she ordered again, wrestling with his strength.

"Rose please," he said again, this time grabbing her other wrist, the wrestling she tried to put up made him stomp her against the wall of the hall. "Rose, just listen to me," he begged, his face close to hers. She looked away from his eyes. "Heather has been after me for days now. She said she needed to talk—I didn't—She took me by surprise!"

Rose laughed sarcastically, making him frown immediately. "Off guard? You were snogging her face off!" she said loudly, wrestling to free herself from his grip.

"That's not true! Rose—that's—that's not what you saw!"

"Oh, don't you dare tell me what I saw!" she grunted, and took advantage of a small hesitance of his to free her wrists.

"Rose—"

She slipped her hand in her pocket and withdrew her wand in a quick move. She swallowed hard, trying to control the burning sensation of her chest and skin.

"I said: Stay away from me," she ordered again, her voice soft and dark. Her wand pointed dangerously at his throat, but Patrick didn't walk back. He was still pressing her body against the wall.

"Rose…Rose, come on, this isn't the way to solv—"

"I swear to Merlin, Patrick, if you don't let me go you'll end up at the Hospital Wing."

"You won't stun me, come on—"

"Then that proves how little you know me," she threatened him. His eyes widened, he opened his mouth again but said nothing. After a small silent pause Patrick removed the pressure he was producing against her, and walked back. Rose shot her the coldest glare her eyes were capable of making, lowered her wand and took off on her own.

Her mind twirled unstoppably. The hurricane of thoughts begun to make her dizzy, her eyes were fogging, she could barely see where she was going.

When she stormed down the lonely stairway and into the crowded halls, her instincts begged her to find another quiet place. Instead, she ran into her cousin. The uncontrollable monster that was about to explode inside of her made her feel unexplainably angry towards Lily.

"You knew didn't you?" she accused, her pulse searching to scape out of her mouth.

"What?" Lily raised her thin eyebrow. "Knew what?"

"You knew about Patrick and Heather. That's why you didn't like him. Couldn't you just tell me?" she fiercely said.

"What? What are you—Patrick and Heather?" the girl widened her eyes. "Really?"

Rose's breathing increased again. She took her hand to her face. "Oh, brilliant," she said, regretting her stupid accusation, not only because Lily was completely innocent of her problem, but because now it was beginning to be a public matter, and that only made it even more humiliating.

The contact of her hand against her forehead reminded her that the skin of her hands was burning, making her stomach almost sick with the pain by now.

"Rose, I'm sorry," Lily said, with a sweet low tone of voice. The girl reached to hug her. "I didn't know, I swear," she pointed out.

"Lil I—I have to go," she said pulling away and walking far from her.

Trying to avoid being the subject of expectation, she discreetly walked out of the castle and into the grounds. She searched for a spot, any spot that would exile her from the rest of the students.

Rose successfully walked to the lake and sat down underneath the shade of the first robust tree she found. She exhaled strongly, wondering if the pain in her chest would leave with the air she was breathing out, then she remembered the wounds on her hands, but she had no intention of leaving that spot for the rest of the day.

After twenty unsuccessful minutes of trying to put her mind blank from the anger and her hands blank from the pain, she was interrupted by an owl that sat gracefully on her knee.

Her heart flipped as the animal offered her his paw. She saw something familiar in the grey owl, and noticed that this time the writer had not chosen an owl that looked like it had survived an attack. She unwrapped the piece of parchment from his paw, and felt free to pet his soft feathers before he took off again. Rose unfolded the paper. She bit her lip before reading out loud:

_You make me smile_

Rose raised her eyebrow, before chuckling softly. That certainly was different from all the notes she had received from the writer before. It wasn't demanding and it certainly didn't feel slightly terrifying.

She read the paper over and over, before thinking that at least someone was smiling today.

oOo

"Rose," a deep, strong voice swam inside her head, meddling with the silence and darkness she had managed to recreate. Rose opened her eyes, and found herself resting her back and head against the same tree. She couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep. She lifted her head, Scorpius was standing in front of her, frowning deeply.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, thrown off. She rubbed her eye with her soaring hand. He shrugged.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he said, she raised her eyebrow.

"I just asked that," she retorted bitterly.

"You skipped potions," he said, taking his bag off and setting it on the floor. She didn't remember inviting him to join her.

"I did?" she asked horrified. "That's just perfect," she snapped. "Did you come here to tell me that?"

Scorpius laughed softly and shortly. "Of course not. I didn't know you were here."

"Then what—"

"This is my spot," he explained with a shrug, sitting on the ground. Rose looked at both sides of the lonely and dark place she was sitting at, far from all the people, close to the lake and the forest.

"_This_ is your spot?" He nodded, and she sighed. "I didn't know this was claimed."

Scorpius smiled. "You alright there?"

She frowned. That was none of his business. "Yes, of course I am!" she reacted. Scorpius nodded, and then pointed at her hand. "Are you sure?"

Rose looked down at her hands, the burns and cuts were aching again. "Oh...this," she sighed. "Care of Magical Creatures," she explained.

"That's one reason I don't take that subject," Scorpius said. "Hagrid can be mental at times."

"It's not so bad. It's just an accident," she retorted. "And Hagrid isn't mental, just extravagant," she said, no matter how right Scorpius was nobody could mess with Hagrid in front of her.

Scorpius smiled again. "Mind If I...?" He moved closer to her, and Rose remained still for a very long second. His long fingers, soft and warm even, grabbed her right hand. His heavy grey eyes examined her.

"What was that?" he said, caressing one of the small burns. Rose's skin shivered at the new sensation.

"Fire slug," she explained with a string of voice.

"Huh. You should put some dragon scales there. I was told they heal wounds within seconds," he assured, his lip twisting mischievously. Rose pressed her lips together, to stop herself from laughing.

"Whoever told you that?" she asked innocently.

"A very mean girl." he said. Without letting her go, his free hand reached for his bag. Rose studied the short seconds he used to pull out a small recipient. He opened it and released her hand to extract a grey substance from the small jar.

"What's that?" she asked. He looked at her, but didn't answer.

"It won't hurt," was all he said when he took her hand and rubbed the substance against her soaring skin.

Rose couldn't withdraw a powerful sigh, she closed her eyes tightly for a moment and pressed her lips together.

"Merlin, that feels really good," she whispered, resting her head against the tree. Scorpius stopped to look at her for a moment and then concentrated again on the healing.

"What is it?" she asked, after clearing her throat.

"Slug ointment, with two or three extra ingredients. It will erase the wounds faster."

"You made that?"

"Yes."

"What are the extra ingredients?"

Scorpius looked up at her again, before smiling.

"You'll have to trust me on that Weasley."

"Will you just stop calling me by my last name? You call me Rose, then you call me Weasley. What's up with that?" she asked frowning, mainly because she didn't get why he couldn't just tell her his especial ingredients.

"Sometimes you're nice and sometimes you're mean. So, what's up with that?"

"I'm not mean!"

"Come on Weasley, can you really deny it?" he said calmly, taking her other hand to apply the ointment. She felt relieved as his warm skin rubbed the cold substance.

She muted, fighting a smile.

He laughed. "I'll tell you what, you stop being mean, I stop calling you Weasley."

She remained silent for a second. "I'll give it a shot," she concluded softly, and he laughed again.

"Done," he said, releasing her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, retrieving her hands. "Do you come here often?" she asked, Scorpius nodded.

"Sometimes. I don't skip potions to come here, though."

"I fell asleep," she explained.

"That's alright. You didn't miss that much. Do you want to take this with you?" he asked, lifting the small jar. She felt tempted to refuse, because she had a perfectly good jar of the traditional healing substance in her room, but the pleasant sensation had been too good to say no to.

"Alright, maybe I can figure out what else you put in this thing," she said, taking the jar. He chuckled.

"I doubt it," he sentenced. Rose felt a rather burning sensation embracing the skin of her stomach, the sensation suggested her that she was being challenged.

"Are you always this full of yourself?" she asked, Scorpius raised his eyebrow.

"Not really, _Weasley_, just secure. It's not the same thing."

Hearing the mention of her last name reminded her of the deal she had agreed to a few minutes ago. She smiled, a gesture he gave back.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asked to change the subject, Scorpius didn't lower his eyes, he remained firm as always.

"Almost time for lunch. I suppose you're hungry," he said softly. She shook her head.

"Not really," she whispered. Scorpius looked away, and reached for his bag again.

"Chocolate?" he asked, pulling out a small box. Rose smiled freely, nothing was better than chocolate to fix that pathetic day she was having.

He opened the box, and she found a bunch of small boxes she was very familiar with.

"Chocolate frogs!" she said with spontaneous excitement. He smiled at her reaction. "I love these!" she said, taking one box. "I didn't know you liked them."

"Actually, I don't," he said. "I don't like chocolate."

Rose stopped cold, she couldn't avoid looking at him with an accusing and amazed touch in her glance. "You don't like _chocolate_? It's...it's chocolate!" she said, horrified.

"So? It's a sweet. I'm not really into sweets."

"That's impossible!"

"Why?" he frowned.

"I don't know, it just is," she ripped the box open, and the small frog jumped out of it. She caught it in a fast move. "Why do you carry these around then?"

"My Grandmother sent them to me this morning," he explained simply.

"Doesn't she know?"

"I used to collect the cards. I guess my Grandmother still likes to send them."

"Did you collect all the cards?"

"No. I never finished."

"Then you are not done, are you?" she smiled, taking a small bite at the frog. Scorpius glanced at her, twisting his lips.

"I guess not," he said, grabbing a box for himself. He opened it and the frog jumped freely. Rose moved quickly, and caught it gracefully. She handed it to him.

Scorpius took it, but instead of biting it, he put it back in the box and slipped the card out.

"Huh..." he said, his face plain.

"What?" she asked, biting her frog once more.

"I got your father," he explained, showing her the card, which read: _Ronald Weasley, famous Auror, known for honourably joining forces with Harry Potter during the war that brought Voldemort down. _

"Yes, that's him," she said with a chuckle. "Here...try the frog," she encouraged, taking the sweet out of the box again.

"I don't think so," he said.

"Come on! It's the best chocolate out there. You should have tried the Christmas special edition. It was a white chocolate frog," she said remembering the exaggerated amount she and Albus had eaten last year. "How long has it been since you ate chocolate?"

"Years, I don't know."

"That's outrageous. You probably forgot what it tastes like," she shook her head.

Scorpius laughed shortly, something that made her smile. He took the small frog from her hands and bit its leg. She grinned.

"Savour it," she said softly, suddenly contemplating the movement of his mouth. He swallowed.

"Not so bad," he smiled.

"See? When I'm done with you you'll be addicted to these things."

"When you're done with me?" his deep voice asked slowly. Rose blushed when she heard her own words from his mouth, she had not meant it that suggestively. She quickly acknowledged how pushy she was being about the chocolate subject, and blushed even more.

"I mean—I didn't mean that—never mind. Just, you'll like them, you'll see," she said nervously. Her lips trembled, her skin shivered again.

"Oh, so you're a bad influence, then?" he asked deeply, his smile had turned into something similar to a gentle smirk.

Rose laughed. That accusation was out of place, nobody had ever pointed her out as a bad influence.

"I guess...I am," she said, staring at him, strangely pleased.

Artist: Muse

Lyrics:

_This means nothing to me__  
__'Cause you are nothing to me__  
__And it means nothing to me__  
__That you blew this away___

_'Cause you could've been number one__  
__If you only found the time__  
__And you could've ruled the whole world__  
__If you had the chance___

_You could've been number one__  
__And you could've ruled the whole world__  
__And we could've had so much fun__  
__But you blew it away___

_You're still nothing to me__  
__And this is nothing to me__  
__And you don't know what you've done__  
__But I'll give you a clue___

_You could've been number one__  
__If you only had the chance__  
__And you could've ruled the whole world__  
__If you had the time___

_You could've been number one__  
__And you could've ruled the whole world__  
__And we could've had so much fun__  
__But you blew it away___

_You could've been number one__  
__And you could've ruled the whole world__  
__And we could've had so much fun__  
__But you blew it away_


	6. Love Will Come Through

**Love Will Come Through**

The next day started off with an irregular commotion. During breakfast the Daily Prophet arrived for all the students that owned a subscription, the headline announcing that the previous night three Aurors had taken part in a persecution as they tried to catch former Death eater and fugitive Rodolphus Lestrange. The wizard scaped, and the persecution left an Auror wounded. Rose's heart had raced momentarily as she read the article, which indicated that two of the Aurors where her uncle Harry and her own father. Fortunately, none of them had been injured, and the paper announced that the wounded Auror was properly transferred to St. Mungu's and was recovering successfully.

Most of the people of her class had gathered around her spot on the table, asking her and Albus questions about the chase, but the two cousins merely exchanged silent glances, they knew nothing more than their classmates.

"I just hope dad's being careful," she whispered to Albus when Loraine took the paper from her hands and read it out loud for the second time. "He's out of practice."

Albus remained silent. Rose knew how lucky she was, she didn't have to put up with her father getting into dangerous persecutions all the time. It wasn't his job anymore and this was an occasional thing, Albus on the other hand, had grown up being familiar with that type of worry, not to mention that more than once he had to visit his dad in St. Mungus'. But Rose couldn't feel grateful at the moment, her dad had been out of service for ten years now, and the only thing she could do was hope that his skills and reflexes were as sharp as they once had been.

"I'm sure Uncle Ron will be fine," Albus told her, quietly enough to be heard only by her.

"It says very little on Rodolphus Lestrange in this article," Loraine pointed out, once she was done reading it to the group. "Did you know that he was one of the most chased death eaters? Oh, but Rose and Albus must know more about him than me, right?" she turned her head towards them in excitement. Rose raised her eyebrow, about six pairs of eyes were staring at them. Albus shook his head.

"You'd be surprised," he said plainly. In spite of all the bedtime stories Rose had heard from her dad as she grew up, she never really knew which parts were true and which were made up, and contrary to what her classmates thought, Deatheaters, wars and dark lords weren't in her family's favourite discussion topics. She had managed to gain more information and details once she entered Hogwarts.

Loraine gave Albus a stern look and turned to the crowd again. "From what I know, the Lestrange family was very, _very_ close to..." she lowered her voice, her dark eyes gazing towards the Slytherin table. "The Malfoy family." The people at their own table muted, and Rose sat still, filled with expectancy for the first time during breakfast. She recalled hearing something about the subject a long time ago, but she couldn't remember well any of it. All she could remember was that the Lestranges and the Malfoys had been allies during the Great War.

"And when I say close," Loraine continued. "I mean _family_ close. You've all heard of Bellatrix Lestrange. She was Scorpius' grandmother's sister. That makes them relatives, and you all know the things those two families were involved with during the war, very _dark_ things."

"But I thought the Malfoy family was cleared of charges years ago," Thomas Carter said.

"Oh, please Tom. The Malfoy family is –or was- one of the most powerful ones in the magical community. And if they were as innocent as they claimed to be, don't you think it would have been easier for them to prove it? It took them seven years to get Lucius Malfoy out of jail. Seven! And from what I know it was only because Albus' father didn't have any new proof against him. Isn't that right Albus?" she said again, turning to the pair. Rose glanced at her cousin's plain face. He simply nodded, but that was enough to encourage a very pleased grin in Loraine's face.

"All I'm saying is that we've been smart to put distance between us and that Scorpius guy," she said then.

"That's ridiculous!" Rose snapped, "What's that got to do with him? If all that is true we might as well feel sorry for him for putting up with a family history like that."

Loraine turned again, frowning deeply. "Sorry? He's as much of a freak as any Malfoy would be."

"Have you met another Malfoy beside him?"

"Well, I know what I have to know. Besides, Scorpius speaks for himself, you know that. Do you see him socializing with anyone out of his own clan? And haven't you seen how he sneaks around? Especially at night."

"You seem to be putting a lot of attention to what he's doing," Rose said softly. Loraine's jaw dropped open, as the rest of the group laughed at Rose's insinuation.

"I am not! I'm only pointing out the obvious. He's a creep, that's what he is. Don't you remember during third year, when his owl died mysteriously?"

"Are you accusing him of killing his own pet?"

"Everybody said it was very weird. He could have used him as an experiment for a potion or something."

"Experiment? Are you daft?" Rose squealed.

"Why are you defending him?"

"Why are you attacking him?"

Loraine raised her eyebrow, and Rose felt the silence of the people that were still listening to their fight.

"Remember last year?" Chassity intervened, her voice low. "He didn't come to Hogwarts in September like everybody else. He came in October. The professors said he was sick. Do you suppose it was something else?"

"I'm sure it was," Loraine agreed. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Alan Yorkshire from Ravenclaw says he swears to have seen a mark on his arm, like a tattoo," Thomas said. "Do you suppose that's true? Is that the death mark?"

"I've had enough..." Rose declared, standing up in a loud move and grabbing her bag, before she walked out of the Great Hall and towards Greenhouse N°2.

"What the hell was that?" Albus asked fifteen minutes later as he sat next to her, a shameless smile spread over his mouth.

"Nothing," she murmured, blushing fervently all of a sudden, embarrassed of the impression her reaction must have caused.

"You know Lorraine, her mouth is a bit bigger than her brain at times. But—" he laughed. "Your reaction was priceless," he mocked, his face looked highly entertained, and the sound of his laughter wasn't helping Rose's blush at all.

"She was being too hard on him," she said sternly.

"She's always hard on people."

"So? If you see someone doing something wrong over and over you'll just let him?" she snapped. Albus stopped laughing, looking down for a moment.

"Hey I just thought your reaction to the subject was..."

"Was what?"

"A bit intense, that's all," he shrugged.

Rose looked at him, giving out a small, shy smile. In a nervous move she pushed her long curls away from her face.

"Actually it works better this way. If you fancy Scorpius then you'll stop obsessing over those notes you get," he grinned.

Rose widened her eyes, her face was flushing again, but this time out of pure indignation.

"Fancy him? Are you—that's not true!" she said, slapping his shoulder. Albus bent his body down to protect himself from the soft attack, laughing again.

"Alright, fine," he said. "At least he hasn't written anything else," he pointed out, errantly. Rose's eyes must have given her away because Albus' expression changed at that very second. "He wrote again, didn't he?" he frowned, and she nodded. "What was it this time?"

"It was different, very different from the previous notes."

Albus' stern expression didn't change. "Rose, what did he write?" he suddenly ordered, with a very particular tone of voice he only used in very specific situations, a tone he shared with James, and with his own father.

Rose sighed, this was even more embarrassing than standing up for Scorpius in front of the students of her year.

"It doesn´t—"

"Rose!"

"_You make me smile_," she murmured quickly, looking down at the table.

"What?"

"You heard me," she said, her cheeks burning. Albus' expression changed drastically again into a mocking one, too obvious to ignore.

"You make me—" he didn't finish the repetition, he was too busy laughing.

"Shut up."

"Sorry," he said, caught between chuckles.

"Please, stop it all already," she complained in frustration and within seconds Albus calmed down.

"It's," he breathed in, and Rose knew he was restraining a laugh. "It's nice."

"You don't think it's nice," she raised her eyebrow.

"Never mind what I think," he said. "But that's really different from what he's been writing."

"I noticed," she shrugged, her eyes distant.

"You know, we've barely begun the year and you're getting busy, huh?"

"What?"

"You have that boyfriend, Scorpius and a stalker running after you," he mocked. Rose shook her head, her stomach shrunk momentarily.

"Al, there's nothing going on with Scorpius, the writer might as well be a bad joke and you can scratch Patrick off, which leaves me with...no one." She stood up impulsively, even though Neville had not entered the greenhouse yet, she knew they would have to work on their projects, so she went to a corner and carefully picked up the Mimbulus Mimbletonia she shared with Albus.

She looked at her cousin when she sat down again, his face plain, obviously waiting for an explanation.

"It's over with him, that's all."

Albus remained silent, frowning.

"We just disagreed," she shrugged.

"What did he do?" Albus asked directly. Rose's fingers held the plant's pot tightly. She knew her expression was a painful one to watch.

"I caught him snogging...some girl."

"What? The git!" Albus said loudly. "What the hell—"

"Al!" she scolded, gesturing with her hands so he would calm down. "Leave it. I don't want to talk about it," she whispered faintly. Albus stared at her firmly and then nodded. "Can we start with Mindy already? And talk about something else?"

"_Mindy_?"

"Yes," she pointed at the plant. "You don't expect me to call her by its full name for an entire year, do you?

Albus frowned, and Rose pretended to ignore him for the rest of the class. He remained silent, something that she highly appreciated.

They walked together in silence once the class was over. Rose did her best effort to avoid any conversation topic that involved Patrick, Scorpius or her mysterious writer. Albus simply walked carelessly, but now and then he seemed to be wondering his eyes around.

"We have forty free minutes. Shouldn't we should work on the essay for Transfiguration?" she suggested when they entered the castle. Albus looked at both sides of the hallway.

"Um, actually, start off without me. I have this—I'll just see you in Charms, alright?" he said, backing off and then turning around to leave. Rose sighed deeply, but she couldn't really accuse him for acting so mysteriously lately, because she wasn't being very transparent herself.

She walked to the library on her own, but once inside she found Anya Longbottom sitting alone at a table, her petit face very concentrated as she wrote down on a piece of parchment.

"Hey," Rose said softly once she was in front of the table. "Do want some company?" The girl lifted her head up and smiled.

"Sure," Anya cleared a side of the table and Rose placed her things there as she sat down.

"What are you working on?" Rose asked.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," she explained, a painful expression spreading all over her face. "It's only an essay but most spells aren't even in the book, and others...I don't know," she said in resignation.

"Let me see," she took the parchment away from the girl. The assignment required her to write an essay about the most famous stunning spells of the past decade, their benefits to Aurors and even to their enemies. "Oh, yes, we had to work on this last year. You know, I remember some of them, but Albus nailed this essay. He'd be a better tutor for you," she suggested.

"No, I mean it's okay," Anya rambled nervously and took her parchment back. "It's not necessary, just—but thanks."

Rose frowned, thrown off by the girl's sudden fervent blush. She had known Anya her entire life. She used to play with her and Albus when they were kids, every time Neville and Hanna dropped at her house for a visit. She was a very shy girl, and rather quiet. Her face, soft and delicate, tended to blush over almost anything. But right now Rose couldn't find a good reason for that amount of red on her cheeks. It was only Albus, for heaven's sake. She knew him, she had seen him in diapers.

"I can help you with what I know, though," Rose reminded her.

"Alright," Anya smiled, calming down. "Thanks."

Thirty minutes later, Rose had helped Anya, pointing out five of the spells that were required to write the essay. The girl looked considerably calmed when they walked out of the library. Helping another person with her studying had cleared her head pleasantly, and now Anya was talking freely and happily, looking more relaxed.

"Look," Anya said, interrupting herself. "Isn't that your boyfriend?"

Rose looked up front and her stomach shrunk unpleasantly again. He seemed to be pressing his hand hard against his face. When the boy caught sight of Rose he ran towards her.

"Rose!" His sudden nasal voice said. Rose frowned, when he was close enough to her she noticed that his hand was holding his own nose tightly, and down his fingers ran a considerable amount of blood. "I've been looking for you," he said under his hand, acting like he hadn't noticed that his own nose was bleeding.

"Patrick! What happened to you?" she asked stunned.

"Oh, yeah, this. I was just going to the Hospital Wing. James sort of made a point very clear," he said sternly. Rose's jaw dropped. She knew her cousin was temperamental but that was something she had never seen him doing.

"James did this to you?" she asked, her voice horrified. He nodded. "But—I haven't even talked to him! Why would—"

"He knows."

"But,"

"He had been looking at me all morning during Potions, but after class he drew his wand at me, straight to my neck." Patrick stopped, to breathe in deeply for a moment. "He said something about me blowing it up with you, and that you weren't alone and I don't know what else."

"Did he hex you?"

Patrick shook his head. "Just when I though he was calming down he lowered his wand and punched me."

"Merlin," she murmured, half embarrassed for her cousin's behaviour, half upset because she realized that that was what she should have done in the first place."

"Anyway, Rose listen, I really need to talk to you."

"Patrick you have to get that nose healed."

"I know, can I see you later? In the common room? At what time do you get out of your last class?" he insisted, reaching for her hand. Rose slipped her arm away from him in a very fast move.

She gave herself a few seconds to answer. "At four," she then whispered.

"Fine. I'll see you then," he said, his eyes filled with something that looked like hope. He then seemed to remember that his nose was bleeding madly and walked away. Rose stood very still, her chest beating fast, out of anxiety but mainly out of anger. She was still too upset to look at him calmly, unless he was bleeding.

"Rose, is everything okay?"

She bit her lip. "Not really," she said, walking forward. As she walked to her Charms' classroom she told her story to Anya, who listened intently.

"Rose, he might be telling the truth," the girl said softly once Rose was done talking. "Maybe that Heather really did catch him by surprise."

Rose looked at the blond girl for a moment, then shook her head. "What I saw doesn't favour that version, Anya," she retorted bitterly. Anya shrugged. They kept on walking and when she reached her classroom Albus encountered them at the door.

"Oh, good, I thought I was running late," he said, panting. Rose raised her eyebrow.

"Did you tell James about what happened with Patrick?" she quickly asked.

"What? No! Why?"

"Lily..." she said, shaking her head. "Never mind, where were you?" she asked softly, hoping not to sound too pushy.

"Just, well," he shrugged, and his movement exposed a side of his neck, revealing a dark shade of pink on it.

"What's that?" she asked, her hand reaching to touch his neck.

"What? Hey, cut it out!" Albus demanded, trying to move away, but Rose had already gotten a very close look.

"Oh no," she said, grinning widely. "Lipstick? Really? Is that lipstick on your neck? That's so tacky!" she mocked, suddenly laughing. Albus' nose and cheeks adopted a powerful tone of red, even though his face was plain. "Don't be embarrassed," she teased him, glad to have the ball on her court for a change. "You're entitled to some snogging now and then."

"Rose, shut up," he murmured. She didn't stop there.

"Is that what you've been doing all this time? Is it?"

Albus shrugged, and a pleased smile ran over his embarrassed face.

"Who is it?"

"I might as well tell you."

"Is it a secret?"

"No, actually I don't know, she's very weird about it," he said confused. "Annemarie Myers," he explained. "Hufflepuff, seventh year. Anya, you must know her," he said, turning to the girl who had remained quiet the entire time.

"Yes, I know her," she said plainly, her lips developed an expression, like a small, fake smile.

Rose laughed again. "Wow, and you have lipstick on your neck already? She's straightforward, isn't she?"

"She kind of is," he grinned.

"Be careful," Rose warned. "Those are dangerous."

Albus rolled his eyes and shook his head. "See, that's the bad thing about you not being a guy. A guy wouldn't be bickering about it."

"Sorry, you're stuck with me." Rose laughed, and when she turned to Anya she found that the girl wasn't there anymore. She frowned in surprise, but then realized that she and Albus had a class to go to.

That day's pace slowed down considerably. During Charms Rose told Albus about James' reaction to Patrick's behaviour. She told the story, sounding as indignant as she could, but Albus didn't hide how pleased he was with Patrick getting beaten up by James, and Rose, as much as she hated to be so overprotected by her male relatives, ended up admitting that a side of her felt grateful to James as well.

She left her last class at four, just like she had told Patrick, but didn't go to her common room until after doing her rounds, when she was sure he had gotten tired of waiting. Something inside of her let her know that she didn't want to see his face yet.

The next day, Rose avoided him during breakfast, especially the moment she ran off to class when she saw him walking towards her at the Great Hall. She felt relieved every time she avoided a conversation with him, and she intended to maintain her slippery behaviour for as long as she could.

The negative side to the entire situation was how much time she was spending alone now. Albus kept running off to his secret encounters with his new girlfriend –if she could be called a girlfriend at all-.

That day she spent her free period at the library, trying to figure out the guidelines to their next potion. She didn't get much done, for it was one of the most complicated potions she had ever studied before, and when she realized she was running late for her next class, she gave up on her homework and ran off to muggle studies.

It wasn't a surprise at all to sit by Scorpius again. As a matter of fact, she would have been stunned if she had found someone else sitting with him. But, in spite of the talk they had had by the lake two days ago, his only response to her salute was a small smile.

Rose spent most of the class trying to come up with something to say, but she quickly acknowledged that he was comfortable in his silence, and with a weird sort of regret, she didn't talk to him at all, she only glanced now and then, whenever she felt that her curls were covering her eyes enough for her to peak without getting caught.

His face as plain as always, his grey eyes focused on his parchment and on the blackboard, his long hands wrote down words that sometimes were misspelled. His long back arched at times, trying to find comfort in his chair. He had the back of an athlete; she had not noticed that before, not that she could remember.

She blinked, that was enough.

By the end of the class Professor McDuff gave them back their essays about the muggle press. Rose wasn't very surprised with her high grade, but she soon noticed that Scorpius, on the other hand, was developing a stunned smile on his lips.

"Wow," his dry voice murmured. "This is the highest grade I've ever gotten in this subject."

"Really?" she intervened.

"Really," he turned to her, the corner of his lips lifting up. "And I owe it to you."

Rose's chest filled with a sensation she could barely recognize, like dense, hot air. She chose to assume that it was nothing but pride.

"Anytime," she murmured vaguely. His face became plain again. She cleared her throat. "I mean, if you want I could help you with muggle studies."

Scorpius didn't answer, but he nodded, and two locks of blond hair got in the way of his eyes.

"But if what you need is a real muggle specialist, then you can go to my brother," Rose added as they stood up from the table they had shared.

"Oh yes, the Muggle expert?"

"Obsessive," she joked. "Actually that copy of Romeo and Juliet belongs to him. He won't read or do any homework, but he'll digest any muggle creation in two days. He's a bit of a freak. Like right now, he's obsessed with Origami, so you'll see him running around with paper birds flying around him all the time," she chuckled. "He has a gift with spells, though. It doesn't take him much effort to learn them," Rose stopped talking when she noticed how intently Scorpius was staring at her, and she realized she was giving herself into a monologue. "I still think this can't possibly be your first O in Muggle studies," she changed the subject as they walked out of the classroom. She wanted to make him talk for a change.

"Why not? It's complicated," he shrugged.

"No it isn't," she answered with a chuckle.

"Maybe not to you. Your mother is a muggle born. I don't have any muggles living near me for miles, so..."

She laughed softly again. "I suppose you're right. I have my mum's family to learn from," she suddenly stopped walking. "Wait a minute, How do you know that my mum is a muggle born?"

Scorpius frowned. "Everybody knows that," he assured slowly.

"No they don't. It's one of the things people mention the less."

Scorpius shot her one last glance and took off again. Rose followed him persistently. He looked straight up front the entire time, and just when she thought that he wouldn't talk again, he turned his face at her.

"Rose, she's famous, as your father is. People know all kinds of stuff about them."

"I guess."

"Aren't you used to that by now?"

"I don't know," Rose shrugged. "It's never been a big deal for me. Dad always made a joke out of it, and mum never paid much interest. Now, Albus, he's got a big pair of shoes to fill."

"Does he?"

"Harry Potter's son?" she said. "Of course he does! He happens to be the one who physically resembles the most. People sometimes even stop him in the street, they say all he's missing is the scar. They ask him such silly questions. Everybody expects great things from him. When we arrived for our first year at Hogwarts everybody assumed he would make the Quidditch team as a first year. And it turns out that he doesn't even care for Quidditch."

"Hmmp," he said dryly. Rose bit her lip. Again, she was giving into a monologue, only that this time she was talking about her family, which wasn't any of Scorpius' business.

"What?"

"Filling expectations. That's hard. I know what it can be like," he said.

"Really? Why?" she impulsively asked. She saw in his declaration a possibility of knowing a little bit more about him.

"Never mind."

"Why? Tell me."

Scorpius stopped walking, and so did she. The sudden stop made their arms brush briefly, something she couldn't stop noticing. He stared down at her, his eyes pierced again. The proximity allowed her to acknowledge the scent of his cologne, and she suddenly remembered how much she liked it. She couldn't help breathing in, and she didn't feel like looking away from his face, no matter how much his eyes intimidated her.

"Why do you want to know?" he murmured, with a very dry voice. Rose shook her head, before shrugging shyly.

"I don't know."

He stared at her in silence, and she was beginning to feel her toes curl to the power of his sight when he began to talk.

"Three things matter in my family," he said softly.

"What things?"

"Be the best at everything," he said. "Fill a respectable place in the Ministry when you get out of school," he whispered, and stopped.

"And?" she asked, very softly, she could feel how persuasive her voice had turned.

"You're being pushy," he suddenly pointed out. Rose sensed a rude tone in his last comment, but she didn't back off.

"It tends to work for me most of the time," she admitted, he raised his eyebrow sharply, but after a moment of silence he smiled. She tried to breathe in deeply, but her chest felt locked, overwhelmed by the hot air that had invaded her.

"Marry Well."

"What?" she frowned.

"That's the last one."

Rose chuckled in disbelief. "Marry well? Really?"

"Yes."

"Sounds...sounds kind of silly," she admitted, regretting at that very second her comment. She was making fun of his family's believes, after all.

To her surprise, he chuckled spontaneously. She realized how little she had heard him laugh like that, generally it seemed like his smiles were made out of pure compromise.

"It's stupid, isn't it?" he asked her then.

"A bit," she grinned herself. "But what do they mean by _marry well_?"

Scorpius stared at her, she did the same. "That I should marry someone suitable for me, or for _them_," he whispered.

"Like…" she whispered, his eyes never left her persuasive gaze.

"A pureblood," he said, without hesitating. Rose frowned, it had been a while since she heard that word, and his deep voice made it sound big, meaningful. Her smile dropped.

"Oh," she said faintly. In some utopic side of her brain she had figured that his family had considerably changed over the past years, and that their questionable history was nothing more than that: history. Now, after knowing that they followed very obsolete believes that wouldn't lead them anywhere she wondered just how much she should expect from their descendent.

"What happens if you ever disrespect one of those..._things_?"

Scorpius lips, so suddenly close to the skin of her face grinned, somehow mischievously. He backed off slowly, making her lean forward two inches, but she stopped her own impulse, and allowed him to retrieve.

"I'm looking into it. I'll let you know," he said, walking away.

Once he was turning around the corner Rose was able to breathe again.

oOo

Artist: Travis

_Lyrics:_

_If I told you a secret  
You won't tell a soul  
Will you hold it and keep it alive?  
Cause it's burning a hole  
And I can't get to sleep  
And I can't live alone in this lie_

_So look up  
Take it away  
Don't look down the mountain_

_If the world isn't turning  
Your heart won't return  
Anyone, anything, anyhow_

_So take me don't leave me  
Take me don't leave me  
Baby, love will come through it's just waiting for you_

_Well I stand at the crossroads  
Of highroads and low roads  
And I got a feeling it's right_

_If it's real what I'm feeling  
There's no make believing  
The sound of the wings of the flight of a dove_

_Take it away  
Don't look down the mountain  
If the world isn't turning  
Your heart won't return anyone anything anyhow..._

_So take me don't leave me  
Take me don't leave me  
Baby, love will come through it's just waiting for you_


	7. Anyway You Choose to Give it

_A/N: Oh God...Again, I'm sorry I kept you waiting this long. There was no way I could update any sooner. Thank you for your patience. But mostly, thanks for the great reviews I've received so far. Please, keep sharing!! _

**Anyway you choose to give it**

--

Night had fallen deeply among the cold grounds. Rose reached the shore of the lake, where water swam tranquil. She felt short of breath, the run to that lonely side of the shore had worn her strength out. She didn't understand why she was in such a hurry.

Carefully, she took her shoes off and felt the humid ground against her bare feet. She stood still, it was so quiet and calm that it was almost frightening. She could hear the rhythm of her own breathing. It was little what she could see in that darkness, and her eyes were confused more than once with the reflection of the moon on the water, making it seem like shadows where moving somewhere behind her. Her heart didn't rise in fear, because the conscious side of her mind was aware that it was all a dream. But just in case it wasn't, she preferred not to turn around.

She walked a few inches and slipped her feet slowly inside the warm water, as she let the breeze caress her skin smoothly.

Behind her she heard the first sound of the night. The shadows hadn't been an illusion. Her feet sunk an inch in the wet sand, and once again she didn't turn around, like inviting whatever it was that was about to happen. Her calmed reaction to a potentially dangerous situation surprised her, but she decided to attribute it to the fact that she was almost sure that it was all a dream.

In a fast move an arm slipped around her waist, chaining her. Rose breathed in, waiting for the unwelcomed man to speak. By now, she was beginning to think that it was all an arranged meeting and that was the reason she was there at that time of night.

She didn't gather enough time to think and the man's other hand firmly grabbed her free, long red locks and pushed them to one side of her neck, as he tightened the grip on her waist. Rose didn't move, her heart bouncing against every side of her chest, her body tensing entirely.

His fingers, suddenly rising with heat, caressed her skin from chin to collarbone, slowly and repeatedly. Rose felt as her feet began to sink in the sand. But it wasn't until his lips branded her neck when she felt her arms and legs lose all kind of human tension. She swallowed, and closed her eyes tightly as she felt him traveling his warm mouth across the skin of her neck, leaving the marks of his breath.

Her head tilted instinctively to one side, opening his path even more, a soft sigh escaped her mouth and he must have felt encouraged because he turned her around with much strength. Rose didn't dare to open her eyes, and felt as he pressed his lips against hers, consuming her entirely. She felt urged to follow his moves and soon tightened her hands behind his neck, to press him down against her. Her fingers travelled up his soft hair while his hands were wrapped hard around her waist, bringing her body to him.

His hand ran up her back and Rose felt both dizzy and short of breath. Every spot of her skin began to burn, and she quickly broke the connection to gain some air. As she opened her eyes she found that the darkness didn't allow her to see the face of the man she was with.

For the first time that night she felt frightened.

Rose opened her eyes abruptly in her dark room, her heart beating hastily. She breathed in, bringing her hand to her cold forehead. She used a few seconds to calm herself down, but her mind couldn't calm properly every time she remembered the scene she had experienced unconsciously, but so vividly.

She recalled the little she had read about dreams, about them being nothing but repressed desires and frustrations. Her heart speeded up again at the thought of desiring what she had just felt with an unknown man. Rose froze, if that had something to do with the notes she was receiving then she had to be crazy for wanting a man that she wasn't sure to be real. Besides, she wasn't still sure if she like his passionate enthusiasm towards her, something inside of her told her she should be careful instead.

Then, unexplainably, she imagined the man from the dream to be Scorpius. He must have been just as tall. Her skin suddenly rose to the thought. But if she desired him in those levels, then why wasn't she able to see his face? Rose took the pillow from under her head and covered her face with it, to drown a small grunt.

It was quite hard to fall sleep again, and an hour and thirty minutes later, she stopped turning to every side of her bed, and was able to get some rest.

She almost couldn't get out of bed the next day, and once she had accomplished it, the memories of her dream began to flash back into her head. The thought of her dream being nothing but a suppressed desire was haunting her again. She thought that it could be nothing more than a coincidence. After all, during the past weeks of October she hadn't received any new letters from her writer, and she still remembered how different his last line had been from the previous ones.

Also, she had been spending some considerable time with Scorpius, after offering to help him with Muggle Studies. Their meetings were occasional, mainly at the library, and rather quiet. There wasn't much encouragement for common chatter when the librarian, Madam Stanley, kept shushing them. With every tutoring session that passed by she realized how little she was figuring out about him, and how badly she wanted to find things out. He rarely encouraged any conversations, but whenever he started talking about something other than Muggle Studies, she saw in him a completely different guy than the quiet, solemn one she had known for the past six years. She was figuring that they were becoming some sort of friends, awkward friends even, instead of plain studying partners. The odd thing was that the more they treated each other, the more awkward it became for her, and she was certain that it was supposed to be the other way around.

With all that introspection invading her thoughts, Rose was the last one to get ready in her dorm, and as she was finished brushing her hair, to turn it into a civilized bun, she turned to the window to pick the bag that was underneath the frame.

She drowned a gasp when she saw the old, black owl that was standing outside the window. At first she didn't move, and the bird's red eyes were hard and firm on her, waiting patiently.

She walked up slowly to the window and opened it, to receive the small rolled piece of parchment that was hanging from its paw. Rose bit her lip as she opened it, ignoring that the owl had flown away. She breathed slowly, and stood still once she read it.

_Everything about you pains my envying. Your soul can't hate anything. _

She couldn't swallow, her throat became suddenly dry. What was _that_ supposed to mean? She reread the note five times, a sense of fear taking over her stomach as she did so. Her heart felt like it had frozen momentarily. Was it in her instincts to feel afraid of him now?

Rose rolled the parchment and slipped it inside her bag.

--

"You look awful..." Albus told her when she sat down for breakfast.

"Thanks..." she chuckled bitterly.

"No, really. Did you get any sleep?"

"Not much. Bad dream..." she said, suppressing a sigh. She stared at her empty plate for a few seconds, until she realized that Albus was staring at her intently. When she looked up she caught his green eyes firm on her, his hand had stopped between his bowl and his mouth, with a spoonful of cereal.

"What kind of dream?" He asked, taking the spoon to his mouth. Rose's pulse sped up considerably. She quickly served some juice in her cup.

"The kind...well, it was more disturbing than bad, really. I—um..." she then rambled. Albus frowned as he chewed slowly.

"Disturbing?" he chuckled, smirking all of a sudden. "Bloody hell, Rose, what kind of a dream _was_ that?" Rose's eyes widened, she opened her mouth but wasn't capable of saying anything at all. "And who was it with?" he then asked. She felt her skin burning, she hoped she didn't look as red as she felt.

"What—no one—I mean—"

He laughed. "Don't try to fix it. You had one of _those_ dreams..." he teased. Rose was certain that her face was completely red by now.

"What? No!"

"It's alright, you're a teenager, it's normal to have a those dreams now and then," he mocked with a faked parental tone.

Rose didn't even notice when she picked a hot biscuit from the table and threw it at her cousin's amused face. He complained but continued laughing.

"I did not!" she assured. He grinned.

"Sure...you didn't."

"I didn't! At least...at least it never got to that..." she murmured. This time it was Albus who widened his eyes, more amused than ever.

"So, I was right!"

"Shut up...I told you it never got to that..."

"But you wanted it to—hey! put the knife down!" he raised his hands as she threatened him with the knife she was supposed to butter her toast with. Rose lowered the silverware and glanced at him firmly. His face had become more serious, and she hoped that it was the end of the conversation. "So, you want to shag some bloke, big deal..." he said all of a sudden, his grin returning to his face. Rose rolled her eyes in despair.

"I do not!" she defended herself. "Merlin...I hate you so much right now," she said, drowning in embarrassment, her hands on her face. She knew that Albus was encouraging the conversation only to torture her. He chuckled again.

"Rose...it's fine," he shrugged. "So...who was it with?" he encouraged, taking another spoonful of cereal to his mouth. Rose used the knife in her hand to spread some butter on a piece of toast. She shot a suspicions glare at him.

"I don't know..." she said straight at him. "I never got to see his face." Albus stopped eating, his face expressionless.

"No wonder it was disturbing. Your mind is a bit bizarre, innit?"

"Stop it...Al," she warned, and he silenced but didn't restrain the mocking grin.

Albus didn't mention the subject again, but she couldn't look straight at his face for the rest of the morning. Every time she met his glance she blushed fervently and he laughed. She wanted to smack something against him, even when he wasn't really doing anything wrong. The simple thought of him knowing what had crossed her mind at some point of the night made her want to die with embarrassment.

After lunch she was glad that he dismissed her, to run off to his mysterious girlfriend.

"Are you ever planning on going out in public with Annemarie?" she asked before he left. Albus shrugged, his eyes gazing at the floor.

"I don't know...I told you. She's very strict about her private life."

"Well...have you ever asked her on an actual date?"

"No...not really. Dark halls and corners seem to be our specialties," he said plainly.

"But you like the girl! Maybe she's...shy. Maybe she's waiting for you to take her more seriously," Rose suggested. Not believing her own words. Annemarie Myers was a beautiful burnet, who tended to captivate guys with her shiny smile and honey coloured eyes. Rose really doubted that being shy was one of her personality traces, and by the shade of red on Albus' neck at that very moment, Annemarie was probably the less shy girl he had ever snogged.

Albus looked up at her. "Rose...I don't think she's shy at all. But...maybe she is waiting...that could be it."

"Yes. Give it a try. Invite her to the Quidditch match or something."

"I guess, I will," he smiled.

Albus was turning to leave, and Rose did the same, until she spotted the characteristic figure of Patrick approaching from the distance.

"Oh no..." she whispered, turning around the corner fast enough to escape from him. She walked very fast, almost running. The last thing she wanted was to talk to him. She had been successfully avoiding him for the past weeks and she was planning on keeping it that way. When she turned in the next corner she bumped into a man.

"Sorry!" she said to the dark, tall Slytherin she had crashed against. Thomas Judd smiled widely, his white teeth flashing her.

"No harm," he told her as he bent down to pick her bag from the floor.

"Thanks," she said, taking her bag from his hands. She turned her head, and saw Scorpius standing by him.

"Hey," he said softly, as solemnly as usual.

She smiled and murmured a "_hi_," but no sound came out of her mouth. Her lungs had little air in them.

"Anyway..." Thomas said, "I'm heading off now...see you when you get out of Potions," he said to his friend, who nodded, without taking his eyes off of her. Thomas looked at Rose. "Careful there, Weasley. Don't go into the woods with this one."

Rose frowned and stared at Thomas with her estranged eyes. He chuckled.

"I won't," she murmured. He turned and left. Rose looked at Scorpius again. "What was that—"

He shook his head. "He's just being an arse."

"Oh, why isn't he taking Potions anymore?" she questioned. She had assumed all those years that he was good at the subject, of course, never as good as Scorpius.

"His tiny brain doesn't have room for a subject like Potions."

"That's so mean!" she scolded, laughing softly, realizing that he probably survived the subject thanks to Scorpius' help.

"That's exactly what he would say about me and Divination."

"You take Divination?"

"Yes... and for two years I haven't understood a word of it."

Rose laughed and he smiled softly, his eyes lowering to the level of her lips. Rose stopped laughing gradually.

"So...we have an hour before potions. If you want we can finish that essay that—"

"Actually, I'm not in the mood for studying right now," he said, cutting her off. Rose felt his words taking away all her enthusiasm. She did her biggest effort to talk properly.

"Oh...then I guess I can just—"

"Fancy a walk instead?" he interrupted again. Rose remained silent for a few seconds, thrown off by him.

"Sure..."

Scorpius led the way out of the castle and into Hogwarts' grounds. At first a common silence embraced them, and she tried to concentrate on walking instead of studying him. But now and then she couldn't help glancing softly at him, noticing how he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

She sighed softly before breaking the ice.

"How's it going with the book I lend you?" she asked quietly.

Scorpius raised his eyes at her. "Good. It's...interesting."

"Interesting?" she lifted her eyebrow. "That's all?" She chuckled. Scorpius smiled softly.

"Yes. The characters, the situation they're in. It's all so wrong that it makes it interesting." Scorpius said, tucking his hands inside his pockets. Rose frowned.

"You think they're _wrong_?" she chuckled in amazement. "You must be the first person to ever say that they aren't perfect for each other..."

Scorpius grinned. "They do seem to be getting in an awful lot of trouble over nothing, don't you think?"

"No!" she gave out in indignation. "You haven't been paying close attention to it." He smiled widely. "I can't believe you don't like it..."

"I never said that. I said it was interesting. Isn't that the author's point after all? To keep the spectator, or in this case reader...interested..."

Rose exhaled strongly, shaking her head. "For some it may be...but _Romeo and Juliet_ is about greater things...not just to keep the reader interested..."

"Really? What greater things?" he challenged smoothly.

"Never mind, Just keep reading," she gave out coldly, speeding up her walking pace. Scorpius laughed, and she turned to see a pleased trace in his expression, a scene that annoyed her all of a sudden.

"What?" she asked, accusingly. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing..." he said plainly, but his answer wasn't at all convincing to her. She silenced and kept on walking. "You just seem to take it a bit too seriously."

"Well...you were questioning Shakespeare's motives, so..."

He laughed again freely, shaking his head, and Rose felt obligated to wear off her frown and put on a small smile as well.

They reached the lake in silence and began to border it at a very slow pace. Rose could spot the Giant Squid resting at one of the other shores. She stopped to contemplate it, and Scorpius walked past her and took on the lead. She could tell where he was heading to, and as she followed him, her stomach began to bend with a very uncomfortable feeling.

She had been to what he called "his spot" twice, once by coincidence and the second time in her dream. She stopped cold when they reached the quiet, shadowy corner. He threw his bag on the floor and took a seat by the tree. Rose stood still, breathing in and out, until she noticed how silly she looked and did the same as him.

"Hey, I just remembered. I got something for you..." she said as she put her bag on the ground and sat by him.

"Did you?" he asked, his eyes amazed. She nodded and shrugged plainly.

"Yes..." she smiled, slightly devilish. She reached for her bag and pulled out a small golden box.

"Chocolate," Scorpius stated, wrinkling his face, as if referring to a very unpleasant healing potion.

"Gold Bars," she said with a nod. "One of Honeydukes' finest." She opened the box and took out a small bar that simulated a gold brick.

"But you know I don't like—"

"I know...but you have to try this one," she insisted, handing him the brick. Scorpius raised his eyebrow suspiciously but took the bar from her hand. He studied the piece of candy for the next seconds. Rose smiled.

"You have to smell it first," she said. He frowned deeply.

"Smell it? There's a process?"

"Yes...you have to breathe in its scent."

"You're being...a bit mental," he said.

Rose exhaled strongly, shook her head and took a gold brick for herself. She placed it close to her lips, but instead of putting it in her mouth she breathed deeply, letting the sweet aroma fill her nostrils, closing her eyes for a moment.

"There. Is that so hard?" she said once her eyes opened again.

Scorpius sighed. "You know...I think I prefer to work on that essay," he joked as he took the gold brick close to his face and breathed in, closing his eyes. Rose smiled, biting her lower lip as he did so. She admitted to herself that he did look slightly silly.

"Can you feel its scent?" she asked, softly. He nodded."Don't open your eyes. Eat it."

Scorpius followed her order and placed the candy in his mouth. He opened his eyes, and chewed rather slowly.

"It melts in your mouth within seconds, doesn't it?" she asked, lowering her voice as she felt highly amused by the surprised look on his face. Scorpius nodded slowly, staring at her eyes. "I think you love it," she then said. Scorpius swallowed softly.

"It's...it's alright," he said. Rose chuckled.

"It's more than alright. I can tell by the look on your face," she said handing him the box. He looked doubtful for a moment but took a second brick, and ate it, with a smoothness that amused Rose. He took the same amount of time to enjoy it as the first time.

"I have to admit. You're good with this," he declared once he had swallowed.

"With what?"

"Spreading the chocolate fever..."

Rose laughed. "Leave it to and addict," she said. "My mum used to buy these for Hugo and me when I was little," she told him as she ate a gold brick. "She came home from work with a box when she wanted to really surprise us, the rule was that we could only have one after dinner." She paused to take another bite of the brick and savour the sweet, profound flavour. "Problem was my dad. Hugo and I had to hide the box from him, otherwise he would eat them all in a minute. But he always figured out a way to find them, and it turned into a battle in our house, it was my brother and I against my dad. He always won...so mum stopped buying them."

Scorpius laughed, and she had to lower her eyes slightly, feeling her cheeks warm. "I know..." she continued softly. "It's silly. We fight over very silly things in our house. But we owe that to my parents, really."

"Why is that?" he asked, his voice low. He took another brick from the box.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Where can I begin? Oh yes...my parents are mental," she said.

"What?" he chuckled.

"One minute they are all over each other, the other one they're fighting over the most ridiculous things. Honestly, Hugo and I fight over more important things than them...and that's a lot to say. The worst part is that you never really understand when they make up again, and trying to understand would be pointless. It's like they live in a different planet, or something." Scorpius laughed again.

"But...I wouldn't mind having a relationship like that someday," she admitted. "Not the crazy fighting part, but the part where one doesn't conceive the world without the other one. That would be nice..." she told him, absently. She looked at him, his eyes were concentrated on hers. She cleared her throat, again she was giving away too much of her personal life.

"What about your parents?" she said evasively. "What are they like?"

Scorpius shrugged, looking into the distance all of a sudden. "Oh, they are just...they're like any other parent—"

"—Never mind. I forgot. You're the guy who never talks to anyone," she cut his evasive answer. He frowned and sat in silence for the next seconds. He raised his chin proudly, and she wondered if she had offended him.

"Fine," he said dryly. "If you must know...my mum's a very kind woman, and she pretty much adores my father, she's very protective of our small family."

"She must love you very much," Rose said softly. Scorpius stared at her eyes firmly, before smiling softly, but said nothing else.

"What about your dad?"

"My father...he's not much of an 'express his feelings' kind of guy. He's just not very...let's just say that he's not very eloquent when it comes to showing his true emotions...at least that's what I've been telling myself all these years," he chuckled dryly, but Rose couldn't fake a smile. She stared at him plainly, concerned even. He looked at her and sighed. "I made you uncomfortable, didn't I?" he asked quietly.

"What?" she reacted. "No! Not at all. Really...no—" she rambled. He laughed again, and shook his head at her awkward reaction. She stared at his wide smile, and felt drawn towards it.

"You know, you should do that more often..." she whispered, almost impulsively.

"Do what?"

"Smiling...it suits you," she whispered again, acknowledging that her words could be translated in the wrong way. "I mean—because maybe that way people won´t walk the other way when they see you coming."

"So, you want me to smile so other people like me?" he frowned.

"Not like you, just...so people won't be afraid of you."

"What people?"

"I don't know...everybody!"

"Rose, if those people don't have a name and a last name, I don't care if they're afraid of me or not," he said. Rose stopped breathing, stunned by the firmness of his answer. "Come on...we'll be late for Potions."

Scorpius stood up and offered her his hands so she could pull herself up easily.

They did arrive almost ten minutes late for the class, which caused the entire classroom to turn around when they walked in. Rose glanced at Albus, who was sitting with Henry. Fortunately, they didn't have to walk much to find Scorpius' usual table. She sat with him, feeling her cheeks and necks burning as everybody had seen that they had been spending their free period together."

"And as I was saying until we were so rudely interrupted..." Professor Maddock said. "The ingredients that are written on the blackboard behind me are to brew what type of potion?" Rose raised her arm fast. "Miss Weasley?"

"Armotentia, sir, a love potion."

"Thank you. Yes, we've already talked about the properties of love potions, and we've studied this one in particular. Now it's time for you to brew one. So..." he said, checking the clock on the wall. "I'll leave you to do this in pairs. Be very careful as you work..." he warned.

Rose and Scorpius hurried to work on the assignment, and as usual it didn't feel hard to work as a couple. But Rose couldn't clear her head from the way he had reacted to her questions earlier, and finally, as she stirred the potion while Scorpius dropped some of the last ingredients, she decided to speak out.

"You know...for a person who doesn't care about what other people think...you're very uptight when it comes to talking about yourself."

Scorpius stopped cold. "Uptight?" He frowned harshly. Rose felt something shrinking inside of her chest.

"Yes. I mean, you're too uptight to talk about yourself."

"Maybe I don't want people to get to know me."

"I think you're scared that they might see the real you."

Scorpius chuckled, staring at the potion. "And you think you know the real me?"

Rose stopped stirring, and looked at his grey eyes, which had turned to her as well. She breathed softly, and swallowed before speaking.

"No..." she admitted through a whisper.

Scorpius nodded, his stern face softening, looking rather pleased. She felt slightly annoyed by him again, but the strong scents that suddenly stroke her interrupted her thoughts. Her chest felt suddenly heavy and her cheeks began to burn pleasantly. The fume of the cauldron was invading her mind, making her think of the afternoons she spent at home when she was little, drinking hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, passing the rain that was falling outside. The strong smell of wet soil made her smile, along with the smell of wood. That happy sensation could only be the result of a well brewed love potion, but then a new kind of smell invaded her. The woody essence turned into warm spices, then mixing with soft citrics. She couldn't tell them apart, but she could recognize that together they formed a perfume.

Scorpius' face developed a stunned expression that lasted a few seconds on him. He cleared his throat.

"It's almost done," he said. "I mean, the potion will not be effective for days, but...it's done," he stopped talking, and then breathed in smoothly.

Rose felt her arms relaxing, her muscles softening. The smell of the potion penetrated her skin. She breathed in and out as softly as her body allowed her. She felt no rush, she didn't feel she needed to do anything else than sit there and think of rainy afternoons and citrics with spices.

"Can you smell it?" he asked, very quietly, his eyes firm on her. He was leaning towards her. She nodded weakly. "What do you smell?" His voice was rough and soft at the same time, low and private within the vapour the cauldron was expulsing. Rose shook her head, slowly.

"I...can't say" she whispered absently, with the string of voice that came out of her.

"Why?" he quietly insisted, leaning forward another inch. His eyes were small, lonely and even dreamy, craving for something. He breathed in again.

She leaned forward as well, breathing the dense fog in, the woody essence of warm spices filled her body, his cologne felt stronger than ever, and she felt the sudden need to find out if the rest of that aroma was hiding underneath his shirt, or if instead it was coming from the cauldron.

"Because..."she mumbled slowly, "...It's personal," she breathed in again, and closed her eyes to the wonderful scent, her rational side acknowledging that Scorpius was doing the same. A soft, and pleased hum escaped from his throat, and the sound made her skin rise. If it was all a dream, then she had no reason to make it stop, she'd wake up eventually.

"What do _you_ smell?" she felt like asking, restraining the impulse of whispering the words to his ear. She opened her eyes, and he shook his head.

"I can't tell you..." Scorpius stared at her intently, so deeply that Rose couldn't help getting lost in the plum tone of his eyes. This time she wasn't even trying to figure him out. It seemed so pointless, so unnecessary.

Scorpius' hand travelled daringly to her face, and as it did so Rose couldn't control the electricity that ran up her body, from her knees, to her stomach, spreading all over her chest, but finally settling at the spot where his hand was aiming at. His long fingers grabbed two of her curls, and her pulse attacked her throat. She closed her eyes for a second, when his skin touched her. He slowly placed the curls behind her ear.

"Your hair's very soft," he randomly whispered, his voice so deep that she could feel it wondering under her skin. She nodded slowly. In her dreamy mind she couldn't elaborate any more words. His hand was making its way down, from her ear to her chin, where she felt her pulse rising fervently again. She was pleasantly sinking in all the surrealism. Her hand, which rested innocently on top of the table felt seduced into moving towards his shirt. She did a great effort to convince it not to, for it was craving to undo every single one of the buttons that locked his chest, to find out once and for all if the powerful scent was coming from his chest, or his neck.

A dry, rough throat was cleared. It wasn't Scorpius' throat. Rose blinked and her head turned up front, she saw Mr. Maddock standing very close to their little private table, his hands were set on the table, next to the cauldron, his face plain.

Rose shook her head, waking up, the vapour leaving her head, her veins, her pulse coming back to normal. Maddock leaned forward, towards the two students.

"Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, do you suppose you are capable of handling this particular assignment, or is the assignment handling _you_?" he raised his eyebrow with sternness, only that Rose could see some mischief in his look.

"I'm really sorry Sir," Rose answered quickly. "I—I don't know what—we didn't mean—it won't happen again. I'm sorry."

Scorpius cleared his throat but said nothing. Maddock nodded firmly and left the table.

The following minutes were long and painful. Rose couldn't keep herself still and she noticed that Scorpius was finding ways to distract his mind as well. She dropped a jar once and he spilled acid by accident when trying to clean her mess up. When they were finally dismissed from the class Rose stood up clumsily from her table. She stormed out of the classroom, Scorpius did the same.

"So..."she whispered at him, when they were standing at the door. He nodded, his eyes looking at the floor.

"Yes..." he said quietly.

"Alright. I'll see you."

"Of course," he said, lifting his eyes and piercing her. Her pulse, the rhythm of her breathing, her mind, everything went out of control again, and she was too far from the vapours of the cauldron and too awake to blame it all on a potion or a dream.

"Brilliant," she whispered to him, and with a forced smile she walked back and turned quickly to leave the disturbing effects of his glance.

--

_Artist:__ The Black Ghosts _

_Lyrics: _

_I hope you know what you're doing to me here__  
__What you're doing to me here__  
__Take some responsibility for your awareness of the levels on which we lie__  
__I'd hate to believe only to find that I'm wrong__  
__Don't act that way it's unbecoming just do what you do_

_I only know that you're the one that always makes me feel it__  
__It's nothing that you do let's say it's just the way you are__  
__If I could bottle what you got then life would be too perfect__  
__I'll take it as it comes, any way you choose to give it_

_I challenge you to make a wrong move__  
__Even when your acting the fool I cannot see through you__  
__The culmination of experience that I can only ever dream of__  
__Is tearing your clothes off__  
__How many lifetimes does it take to live in the present day__  
__Live in the present day, live in the present day_

_I only know that you're the one that always makes me feel it__  
__It's nothing that you do let's say it's just the way you are__  
__If I could bottle what you got then life would be too perfect__  
__I'll take it as it comes, any way you choose to give it_

_Any way you choose to give it is sincerely a pleasure of mine__  
__But don't think you can imitate the accent of fate__  
__You've got to walk the line, walk the line__  
__And I can think of a few things to say to make things right__  
__But by the time I say them we will be in different light__  
__Please appreciate the limits of the flesh__  
__The spirit will not rest, will not be satisfied with anybody else__  
_


	8. Feeling Lucky

**Feeling Lucky**

--

"This map didn't come out right. This isn't Jupiter's position. Is it, Rose?"Albus asked, moving his parchment close to her.

"Sure," her distracted voice said, while her eyes were staring at her own homework, practically ignoring him. Albus frowned.

"Huh...then I suppose I can give two more moons to mars here..." he said sternly, drawing little circles around his representation of Saturn.

"If you want..." she said with a melodic tone.

"Right. Then you won't mind me drawing an extra sun in your map as well," Albus said, this time taking her parchment from her hands.

"Wha—hey!" she reacted, rescuing her homework before Albus could ruin it.

"What's with you?" he asked.

"Nothing!" she lied, staring down at the table as she said so. Her head had been too lost in space to study Astronomy, and now she couldn't develop a proper excuse for not listening to a word that Albus had said. "I'm tired, I'm really tired. That's it."

"Right..."

"And I still have rounds to do..." she remembered, standing up in a fast move. She rolled her astronomy map and slipped it inside her bag, putting too much pressure as she did so. The sipper opened abruptly and a series of supplies fell on the table. She breathed out impatiently and picked up the bottle of ink and the quills that had fallen.

Albus leaned forward and helped her by picking up the small pieces of parchments that had fallen off her bag. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment the moment he acknowledged that she was still carrying around the notes her writer had been sending.

"What's this?" he asked, piling the parchments he had recognized. "You're carrying these around now?" Rose muted, and shrugged plainly, trying to seem casual about, innocent even. There was nothing wrong with carrying those little notes, she first thought. She had to be familiar with them if she ever intended on finding out who was sending them. The problem, and the thing that was probably upsetting Albus the most, was how unhealthy she was being by reading them over and over.

"Wait a minute..." he stopped, as he read one of the notes. "Is this one recent? I thought the stalker hadn't written anything for weeks..."

"Oh...yes, I—didn't—"

"—_Everything about you pains my envying_" he read out loud. "_Your soul can't hate anything...?_ What the hell—Rose this bloke is crossing the line,_" _he raised his voice, smacking the parchment against the table.

"Leave it, Al," she demanded, taking the note from his hands. Albus turned his concerned frown into a stern one.

"So what? You're hiding these from me now?"

"No! I just…Al, I don't know what to do with this...I—it's been months now, I don't know what he wants, I don't know what to think," she said, releasing a sigh as she pointed at the pieces of parchment that rested innocently on the table.

"Rose..." he murmured calmly. "Stop this."

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything!"

"You're beginning to fancy this!"

"What? No! Of course not! I just want to find out who this guy is...to put an end to it. You would be doing the exact same thing."

"Rose, you're a girl, and this guy might as well be a pervert! He's obsessed with you!" He said, raising his voice too much for Rose's liking.

"That's one theory, and if that is the case, then I have to know, don't I? What do you expect me to do? Hide?"

"Rose—"

"Listen Al, stop worrying so much."

"Rose..." he patiently repeated.

"I have rounds to do," Rose announced, staring at him daringly for a moment. "I'll see you later...when you cool off, that is," she said coldly, raising her eyebrow. Albus remained silent, a red shade taking over his face, his hands remained still on the table, while his green eyes had fixated on hers. Rose hadn't seen him that upset in a long time. In spite of how intimidating her cousin had suddenly become, she didn't wear off her own frown, and turned around towards the portrait.

There was absolutely no reason why she had to up with all that rubbish, she thought as she walked the quiet halls on her own. She already had her mind full of things and Albus wasn't helping to clear anything up. He didn't trust anything that came from the writer, and even though she couldn't blame him for it she also knew that his attitude made the matter worse for her.

Albus was wrong, she then thought. She wasn't fancying anything, and she knew very well that she had to be careful. She was sure that she didn't need his overprotection, what she needed was his help to figure out who that guy was, and put him in his place...or at least ask him what his intentions where, only that lately she was beginning to think that the writer's main intention was to drive her mad.

She stopped walking in the cold silence of the long hallway. If that was the writer's motive then she had to be even more careful. She thought of the things he had written, and wondered how those phrases would sound if they came from a man's lips. She shook her head. Maybe Albus wasn't being paranoid. Maybe she did need someone to look after her. Maybe the writer was up to something more dangerous.

In an attempt to regain her composure she fixed the red curls that were loose over her face and retook her pace. From the distance she could suddenly hear soft voices. It was late, and no student was allowed to be socializing around the castle. She walked faster and as she approached the source of the noise she heard a female giggle.

Rose turned around the corner and stopped cold as she encountered the two students who were out of their common rooms at that time of night.

Lily turned around when she felt her cousin arriving from behind, and Scorpius turned his face at her as well. Rose stopped moving at the sight of them, talking to each other, Lily with a frozen smile and Scorpius with his regular solemn expression. Even in her shock Rose could see that he was carrying his broom with him.

"Hi Rose..." Lily said, awfully melodic. Rose didn't answer, she was considering reporting them with the heads of each house. They were, after all, wondering about the castle at a very late hour. Her stomach flipped unpleasantly and her throat locked. She didn't speak at all.

Scorpius cleared his throat, but he quickly looked at her, directing a small smile in her way. She didn't return it, her lips had frozen, turning into a thin closed line.

"Good night, then. I'll see you tomorrow Rose," he said, turning around carelessly and leaving. After the strange moment they had shared during Potions, only a few weeks ago, it took them days to behave mildly naturally around each other again. They did accomplish it after a week, and had returned to their personal walks and private Muggle lessons, only that now they were accompanied by soft smiles on his behalf, gentle whispers and hints that assured her that he was constantly in the need of saying something else, something that was always left unsaid.

But talking so closely on a hallway at that time of night was something they had never done, and now she had caught him with none other than her own cousin. Again, she felt a deep, nauseating pain at the bottom of her stomach. When he was completely gone Rose's eyes turned accusingly to Lily, waiting for an explanation.

"What?" Lily asked shrugging uninterestedly.

"What are you doing out here so late?" was the only thing that Rose was capable of asking.

"Late night snack."

"And Scorpius?" Rose whispered, her voice now breaking.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just ran into him. I suppose he was practicing. Can you believe how much that man practices? We'll have to watch our backs during the match next Saturday."

Rose didn't answer, she was concentrating on breathing evenly, but she knew that her expression spoke on its own.

"Isn't he a little old for you?" She surprised herself with the straight accusation, but she didn't retract, she didn't feel like it. "I mean, you're only fourteen Lily," she said sincerely. She was still only a girl, and Scorpius was almost a full grown man...at least that was what his character, and deep voice projected.

Lily laughed, and Rose couldn't see what was so funny. "Well...actually, he's only two years older. It's not much."

"It's enough Lily...do you even know him? Do you think it's appropriate for you to be wondering around the castle this late with a guy you barely know?"

"I don't know...since when do I worry about being appropriate?" the girl retorted.

"You should Lily..."

"Rose...we only ran into each other. Unless...unless you're jealous for some reason?" She said as she raised her eyebrow. The little outgoing, rebel of the family always had to handle things her way. Rose's nauseas increased rapidly.

"Never mind...do whatever you want," she said turning around. "And go back to the common room," she ordered when she was already walking away.

The headache that followed the encounter was as unbearable as the nauseating feeling. Of all the people, she had to find Scorpius with her cousin in what seemed to be an act of flirtation.

That wasn't right at all. He was too old for her, and Lily was still too immature to be involved in a relationship like that. Besides, what would they even talk about? They were completely different. Lily was all about the fun, the friends and the Quidditch, while he was...well, to be honest Rose wasn't sure what he was yet. He was too quiet, too solemn even, except when they were together. Rose had begun to think that their meetings were making him laugh and smile more. It was a silly presumption, she was sure, but she couldn't stop herself from thinking that she was influencing him that much.

Lily couldn't possibly have that effect on him...or maybe she could, how could Rose know? This was the first time she saw them together. But...where they just socializing, or was it more?

Who was she kidding? Scorpius didn't socialize with anybody unless he had a very specific reason. Maybe he was hanging around with Rose to earn some extra points in Muggle Studies, even thought the thing they had done the less lately was study.

Rose breathed in deeply. Lily had everything a guy could want. She wasn't very tall, on the contrary she was slim and petit, something James always used to tease her to no end. But Rose knew that that could work as a quality, because her small features made her look adorable to any guy's eyes. Her red hair, long almost to the level of her waist was straight and perfect, and when she laughed, she did it with much grace. She was quite clever and a great athlete.

There, she had painfully listed the reasons why Scorpius could feel attracted to her. But what about the other way around? What would she see in him? He was certainly not her type. Scorpius wasn't really anybody's type.

He was too quiet, most of the time it seemed like he was concentrated on something, he seemed distracted, somewhere else. He was too secure of his own self, especially when he was in front of a cauldron, and he was rather drastic when expressing his own opinion.

And then, once that side of him was revealed, he was awfully smart and he had a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. He was a great listener, and whenever he smiled...she couldn't even begin to explain what _that_ was like. There was something about him that made her want to know him even more, he was slowly showing off his layers and Rose felt as amused as she felt attracted. Was that the same thing other girls had seen in him?

In the past years she had seen him with two other girls. The first one had been a Slytherin, a year younger than him. A short, pretty blond girl, Rose couldn't remember her name. They lasted only a few months. The second one had been a Ravenclaw, daughter of a rich wizard that owned one of the biggest wizard pubs of Scotland. Their relationship did last about five months and she never knew why they broke up, only that the girl chased him for two more months... unsuccessfully.

Rose hadn't stopped to think about his former girlfriends before. Now, she wondered, had any of them ever make him talk about his personal life? Had they seen him laughing as much as Rose had? She sighed, there was no point on obsessing with that.

When she reached her common she felt exhausted, sleepy and in an unexplainably bad mood. Albus wasn't there anymore, and she suddenly felt bad for shutting him out when all he wanted was to take care of her, even if he had been a little annoying.

She walked up the stairs, undoing the bun of her hair, and taking her Prefect batch off, to shorten the process of getting ready for bed. When she walked inside her room she already had her shoes in her hands. She opened the door and found all of her roommates wide awake and joined in common chatter. They silenced when they saw her, Rose was getting used to that. She had a feeling that her recent friendship with Scorpius was unleashing rumours among the students of her year.

Without a word she went straight to her things, she wanted to intern herself in her bed as fast as possible.

--

"Morning..." she softly said to Albus when she sat at the breakfast table the next day. He looked at her as he buttered his toast, and gave her a quick nod as a response. "Alright, fine, so you're cross, I get it."

"Oh no..." he acidly said. "I'm not cross, I'm just _cooling off_..."

"Al...I'm sorry," she sincerely said. He didn't look at her again. "Come on...don't be angry. I really need your help."

"What do you need my help for? You seem to have everything under control there..."

"Albus! Please! I said I was sorry! I get it, you're worried about me."

Albus let go of the piece of bread and the knife. "Rose...I'm not just worried. What if this guy is dangerous?"

"That's what I have to find out. That's why I need your help."

"Do you want to know what I think of this? I think you should tell Uncle Ron."

"What? No!"

"Why not?"

"Because he'll freak out and over react, that's why!"

"Rose, you might be in danger here…"

"If I tell my dad, he'll get me out of school until he finds the person, and that might take him months! Merlin, I could lose the school year…"

"Your mum wouldn't allow that…"

"Al…will you help me or not?"

Albus sighed heavily, his piece of toast rested intact on his plate. He nodded, rolling his eyes as he did so. Rose smiled widely, holding back the impulse of hugging him tightly.

They walked out of the Great Hall together and towards the History of Magic classroom. Albus yawned lazily, he became sleepy whenever they headed off to that particular class. The fact that he had already earned himself two detentions for sleeping in class didn't seem to teach him anything.

"Rose," a deep voice said. She stopped walking, her heart bumping against her throat, for she knew who that voice belonged to. Albus turned around as well and they both found Scorpius standing behind them, patiently.

Even when she hadn't actually seen him in anything compromising with her cousin, Rose couldn't help the unpleasant pain that took over her stomach when she remembered how cosy he had looked with Lily the previous night.

"Yes?" she asked dryly.

"Do you have a minute?" he said.

Albus raised his eyebrow, and looked at Rose for a second. He had been so concentrated on Annemarie the past two months that he hadn't seen how much time she had been spending with Scorpius. He soon realized, thanks to Rose's light blush, that he wasn't wanted in that conversation.

"I…I'll see you in the classroom. Got to get a proper seat at the end…" he said, storming off. Bless him for being discreet, she thought.

Scorpius walked up to her, if he was going to ask her to stay to finish the report on Muggle architecture, then she was going to say no, a straight, firm no. In fact, she wasn't planning on playing a perverse triangle with her own cousin. No matter what he asked her, she was going to say _no_. A walk by the lake? _No._ A trip to the Library? Definitely _No._

"I just wanted to know…" he roughly whispered. Her skin shivered, all the way down to her toes. "Are you going to be at tomorrow's Quidditch Match?" he then asked. She breathed in.

"Yes," she said, betraying herself. Well, it wasn't like there was going to be actual contact between them. She'd go as a spectator, and he'd be at the pitch, filling his position as a Keeper. Rose suddenly regretted that she wasn't playing in the team anymore, she did remember how much fun she had when she played as a chaser, and how many times Scorpius wasn't able to stop the quaffle from entering the hoops when she threw it at his direction.

Scorpius smiled pleased for a moment. "I…always go when Gryffindor plays…" she cleared out quickly.

"Of course, your entire family plays in the team, right? Shouldn't that be prohibited?" he teased. Rose raised her eyebrow strictly.

"Why? Can't handle that many Weasleys?" she retorted. "And it's not my entire family…only…James, Fred and Lily."

"Oh right…the fourth one dropped a year ago…a real shame…" he said with a small smile, she knew he was referring to her. Rose shook her head, fighting the grin that was forming on her lips. "I guess she didn't have what it takes…" he teased, her jaw dropped.

"I hope James beats a Bludger in your direction," she said. Scorpius mouth opened, but she could see that his astonishment was a mere act.

"Watch it Weasley," he warned softly. "You're being mean again."

"Oh, I'm sorry, what I meant was…good luck," she whispered back, looking at his eyes and letting a small smirk escape her lips as she walked away from him.

--

She woke up very early the next day. A weird form of excitement had taken over her chest. That Saturday would play Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and like always, she wanted Gryffindor to win the match. But this time she couldn't help the curiosity of paying attention to Scorpius' role in the game. She had studied his techniques before, but back then it was only for sport purposes. Since she had joined the team as a chaser in second year, he had been her opponent as a keeper, and she had to know his strengths and weaknesses in the field. She had become so good at scoring while Scorpius was guarding the hoops that James almost cried when she declared that she was leaving the team in fifth year to focus on her OWLs.

Now she only wanted to see him in action, it was an unexplainable desire she couldn't help having.

When she sat down for breakfast she found that Albus had almost finished his cereal.

"You're eating earlier every day," she said. "Are you in a hurry?"

"I'm meeting Annemarie in her common room," he admitted.

Rose tried to serve herself some cereal, but when she began to eat she couldn't have more than two spoons of the meal. Her stomach had locked, the excitement she felt was too unexplainable.

"Rose!" Anya's soft voice said. "Are you going to the game?" she asked, taking a seat by her. Rose nodded. "Mind if I go with you guys?"

"Actually you couldn't be more opportune," Rose said with a smile. "Al is ditching me for his girlfriend…" she smirked in Albus direction. The boy looked at her sternly.

"Hey, this was your idea!" he retorted as he stood up. "And you shouldn't be calling her my girlfriend yet."

"She's not your girlfriend? You've been snogging her for what? Two months?"

"I told you…she's very…strict about her private life."

"Right…"

"I'll see you girls later…" he said, taking off in a hurry. Rose turned to Anya, seeking to share a glance of annoyance, but the girl was looking down at the table, lost in her own thoughts.

"Do you know her? Annemarie?" Rose asked her.

"What? Well…only a little," she said, thrown off by the question.

"What's she like?"

Anya shrugged, and wrinkled her nose a little. "Well…she's alright, I guess. We don't really talk or anything. But…let's just say she knows exactly how beautiful she is."

"Oh…but do you think she really likes Al?"

Anya sighed, strongly. "I don't know Rose. I really don't," she answered, standing up in a fast move. "We should get going to the pitch if we want the good seats."

Rose stood up as well and walked out of the castle with Anya.

"Did you ever clear things up with Patrick?" Anya asked, once she had washed the upset frown she had been carrying. Rose shook her head.

"I haven't spoken to him yet…"

"Really? But it's been over a month! Hasn't he tried to explain or anything?"

"Oh yes, he was trying to explain but…I really don't want to listen to him."

"Oh…" the girl said softly. "But…Rose, did you ever stop to think that he may be telling the truth?"

"Not really…" Rose shrugged uninterestedly, until her conversation was interrupted by an owl that flew towards their direction.

"Not again…" she murmured, as the familiar grey bird sat on her shoulder. She was sure she had seen that owl somewhere before.

"It's kind of late to be receiving mail…" Anya said estranged.

"I have a rather odd schedule…" she bitterly said, taking the small parchment that had been hanging from its paw. She unrolled the piece and read it to herself, recognizing that the handwriting was rather familiar as well.

_How I wish you could see the potential of you and __me, it's like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can't read just yet. _

Every single one of the feelings she got when she received those letters came back to her. The butterflies in her stomach, the light headache, the accelerated beating of her heart.

"Rose, are you alright?" Anya asked, her sweet voice wrapped in worry. "Is it bad news?"

"No..." she murmured. "No news at all…"

"But you're red…"

"I…I don't feel very well."

"What is it?"

Rose breathed in deeply, she was short of breath. She could lie to Anya, and hide the story of her secret writer. But there was no point on hiding it from her, she knew her friend was a vault when it came to secrets, not only she wouldn't tell anybody but it could be nice to talk to a girl about it, for a change…

"It's just that…well, this guy—this guy has been writing to me. But I don't know who he is, so…"

"You have like…an admirer?"

"Something like that. Here…" Rose said, handing her the parchment. Anya read it carefully. Her eyes widened, and she then read it again.

"Wow…that's…Rose, I mean, this is poetry," Anya said, quite impressed. "It's—it's really good."

Rose sighed. She retook the walk to the pitch, and explained to Anya the whole story of the anonymous writer, making emphasis on how odd the owls that delivered the messages where, and that he almost never repeated a handwriting. She then told her about how dark his messages sounded at times, with occasional exceptions.

"Albus says he's a stalker," Rose explained once they had arrived at the Quidditch pitch. "He might be right, I mean: _everything about you pains my envying_? That's just…too much," she said, shivering at the memory of it.

"But this last note was…I mean, don't you like it?" Anya insisted.

Of course she liked it. Rose stared at Anya carefully. She then understood Albus completely. What was really dangerous from that whole thing, was the effect the writer had on women, and that was what Albus had noted on Rose.

"Yes…but Anya, I think I have to find out who he is first."

"You should…" she admitted.

The Quidditch pitch was packed with students. Gryffindor versus Slytherin was always a popular encounter. She spotted Albus at the other side, holding hands with an attractive brunette, both of them talking to a group of seventh year Hufflepuff girls. She turned to ask Anya if those where Annemarie's friends and found that the girl had spotted the couple as well. Her face was wrinkled in authentic pain, and after contemplating her for a few seconds, Rose realized that it was best to give the subject of Albus and his new girlfriend a rest as long as Anya was around.

When the players entered the field Rose felt an uncontrollable shiver travelling up her spine. She first saw the Gryffindor team, spotting Lily as she travelled high in the air, James leading the rest of the team to their spots, and Fred doing fancy pirouettes. But then the Slytherin team entered, and it only took Rose two seconds to spot Scorpius' shiny blond hair in the distance. She breathed in deeply and waited for the game to begin.

The entire game was a nerve wrecker. Slytherin's beaters kept throwing the bludgers strategically and strongly against the Gryffindor team, something that distracted the players too much. Lily was desperately seeking for the snitch, but she hadn't seen it yet, and Gryffindor's chasers tried to keep the quaffle on their side most of time.

But Rose couldn't help gazing at Slytherin's keeper every other minute. Scorpius had stopped the quaffle every single time so far. He was fast, agile, those late hours at the pitch were paying up, for sure. She remembered him being good when she played against him, but never that prepared.

Soon Slytherin scored their first 10 points, and after five minutes they scored another 10 points. Rose bit her lower lip, she gazed at James. He didn't look happy at all.

Jane O'Hara, one of Gryffindor's chasers, took possession of the Quaffle, and flew gracefully towards Scorpius. In a fast move she threw the ball at the hoop, and Scorpius had to hit the Quaffle so hard with his hand that he lost his balance on the broom, but the ball didn't enter the hoop.

Rose gasped when she saw how Scorpius wrestled to gain balance again. In the middle of his personal fight he almost fell to the sand.

"Rose…whose side are you on?" Anya asked. Rose turned to the girl, a warm feeling taking over her neck.

"Gryffindor!" she answered automatically. "It's just that…he almost fell…that's all," she explained, looking away from Anya.

A silence followed the answer and Rose watched as Gryffindor got possession of the Quaffle again. This time it was Fred the one to fly towards the hoops, but when he was extremely close, he threw the ball to Jane, a move that confounded Scorpius. Nevertheless, He flew to the hoop Jane was aiming at, but he was a second too late. Rose couldn't stop herself from gasping again.

"_Gryffindor scores ten points!"_ exclaimed Bowen Jones, Hogwarts' Quidditch commentator.

She clapped at Fred's smart move, but she knew that Anya was still looking at her.

"You two are together a lot lately…" Anya said. Rose turned to the blond girl. It wasn't even a question.

"I help him with Muggle studies…" she explained.

"Oh…so you aren't friends…or anything?" she asked suspiciously. Rose didn't like the sound of her _anything_.

"Yes, I guess, I don't know, we can say we're friends..." she said evasively.

"So...you aren't anything _else_?" Anya asked shyly. Rose knew it was taking her a lot of effort to ask those questions. No matter how long they had known each other, Anya was as shy as a baby deer.

"Actually," Rose said with a huge sigh. "No...we aren't." She could hear the bitterness of her own voice. "We talk, and that's what friends do...right? All we do is talk...that's...all we do. _Talk_."

When Rose turned her head at Anya, she found that the girl was staring at her intently.

"Never mind..." Rose murmured.

Jane O'Hara had the Quaffle again, and threw the ball towards the hoops from a corner, but Scorpius saw it rapidly, and flew the necessary distance to grab the Quaffle impressively fast. Rose swallowed hard. He looked…concentrated, confident, he looked like there was nothing in the world powerful enough to break his focus.

"He really is…good," she murmured. Anya chuckled, Rose ignored her.

For the next twenty minutes it was impossible for Gryffindor to score again, and after a half hour of tense action, Lily spotted the snitch. She discreetly flew towards the slippery ball, but Caleb Phelps, Slytherin's seeker, caught sight of her moves and flew to chase the ball as well.

Lily was faster than Caleb, but the boy flew past her, slightly bumping her, so high in the sky that it was very hard to see. Soon Caleb gained speed and Lily couldn't stop him from catching the snitch.

"_Caleb __Phelps catches the snitch! Slytherin wins!"_ Bowen said. The Slytherin crowd roared, while the Gryffindor bench remained quiet in disappointment.

Three of Slytherin's players flew towards Caleb to celebrate his victory and Lily flew to the ground, red in the face.

Rose felt the shame any other Gryffindor would feel when their team loss. Gryffindor had won the house cup for two years in a row, until they loss it to Hufflepuff last year, and this year they were losing to Slytherin on their opening game. Nobody could be happy about that.

Even so, her eyes travelled curiously towards Scorpius, who wore a proud smile on his face. He remained close to the hoops, instead of joining the cheering of his teammates. Soon, two players flew to him, to congratulate his performance.

Rose smiled, she couldn't help it.

--

"It's like I said James! I didn't see him coming from behind! And I was alone up there!" Lily explained that night at the Gryffindor table during dinner, furious of her defeat.

"You have to be more aware when you see the snitch," he scolded.

"I always am!" she retorted loudly.

Rose rolled her eyes, she remembered what it was like to be coached by James, and it wasn't pleasant, especially if you were in his family tree. Rose knew they were going to argue for an hour, at the very least.

She ate her dinner alone and quietly. Albus has spent the rest of the day with Annemarie, something that told her that their date had gone well after all. Anya and Rose had spent the day together as well, but during dinner she sat with her fellow Hufflepuffs and now Rose had to eat with her cousins fighting unstoppably over the same subject.

"Rose…" a male voice murmured. Patrick had taken a seat next to her. He must have felt awfully brave to do so, because James had warned him to stay as far from her as possible. "Can we please talk?"

Rose looked at him, fixing her curls behind her ears, her face hard and expressionless. She didn't answer. He exhaled desperately.

"What do I have to do to talk to you?" he asked.

"Patrick, not right now, I have rounds to do…"

"But when?" he insisted. "Rose, this is driving me mad, how much longer are you going to stay angry with me?" he softly asked, taking her hand, something that caught her off guard. She remained still and that encouraged him to move closer. Behind them she could hear James bickering at Lily for her lack of focus, and Lily retorting that he couldn't expect her to have eyes at the back of her head.

"Just tell me…" Patrick insisted, whispering the words. "Tell me what I have to do and I'll do it."

"What are you talk—"

"—I'm saying…Rose I'm saying that I'm sick of your cold treatment. What do you want me to do to prove what you mean to me?"

Rose frowned. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it. Her mind was a blank piece of parchment. She couldn't think of one thing that she wanted from him.

"Nothing…" she murmured. "I don't want anything—"

"Then?" he demanded.

"Patrick I really have a lot of things to do," she slipped her hand free from his grip, and stood up quickly to go away.

She walked to her common room thoughtfully. She had suddenly realized that Patrick's behaviour made her feel strange and uncomfortable, as if she had been the one doing something bad to him. She felt he had been sincere, and that he really was having a hard time with the cold treatment she had been given him. She suddenly felt bad for treating him like that, and not talking clearly to him.

"Hey," the deep, rough voice that destabilized her said. Rose fought the smiled and turned around. Scorpius walked up to her, a soft smile on his own face.

"Congratulations..." she whispered. "Good game."

"Thanks...I didn't think you'd congratulate me," he mocked.

"That just proves how little you know me," she reminded him. Scorpius chuckled, and shook his head.

"Listen..."he said. "There's some kind of celebration going on in my common room. You know them, they win the first match and think they have the rest of the season bought..." Rose laughed, that sounded a lot like the Gryffindors as well. "I thought that maybe you'd like to come..."

Rose froze, frowning instinctively, she didn't see how she could attend a Slytherin celebration...in the Slytherin common room...

"Seriously?" she gave out. He chuckled, his hands in his pockets, his grey eyes deeply concentrated on her.

"Yes..."He nodded.

"Wouldn't I be like...the first Gryffindor to ever set foot in Slytherin's common room?"

Scorpius smiled widely, and Rose's heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. "Afraid of making a little Hogwarts history?" he mocked. "Besides, don't give yourself that much credit...other Gryffindors have entered our common room before...none of them lived to tell what they saw but still—"

"—Oh, aren't you hilarious," she said, raising her eyebrow, he laughed softly, and looked down at his feet.

"What do you say, then?" he asked, lifting his head and looking at her intently again. Somewhere...in the deep desires of her twisted mind it sounded like he really wanted her to go.

"I say...yes...I'll go," she softly said.

--

"Are you sure this is Alright?" Rose asked impulsively, once they had reached a bare stone wall.

"Hey..." he whispered, leaning down closely. "I wouldn't bring you if it weren't..."

"Okay..." she said, breathing in.

"At least is alright with me..." he mocked.

"I will kill you..." she told him bitterly.

He chuckled. "_Victory_," he murmured to the wall. Rose rolled her eyes. That password was too predictable to be true. Scorpius turned to her and shrugged, seeming like he knew what she was thinking.

Once inside Rose contemplated the room. The low ceiling and rough stone walls gave it a dungeon-like look. It was packed with people, all loud and cheerful.

Rose walked by his side. A group of students that wore thick green and silver scarves sang intensely to a rock song the radio was playing. A few couples were dancing, while others gathered in small groups talking and laughing. Butterbeers came and went, and Rose saw that Caleb Phelps was sitting at a sofa surrounded by girls who appeared to be in their third and fourth year. He seemed to be telling an amusing story.

Suddenly the noise of the room faded. The rock song seemed louder now that most of the people in the room had stopped talking. Everybody had turned around, and Rose felt about fifty pairs of eyes staring at her. Her legs glued to the floor.

A few seconds passed in that hard, ice cold silence, and just when Rose thought that it was time to make a run for it, the people in the room lost interest in her and turned to their previous activities. The party recovered its course.

Rose breathed out. "Like I said...I will kill you..." she murmured to Scorpius. He smiled at her, flashing his perfectly white teeth.

"I told you it was alright..." he said with a lot of confidence.

Scorpius walked with her across the room, and Rose did feel eyes staring at her as she walked. They reached a spot with a dark green sofa, a coffee table and an armchair. The armchair was taken by two students: Thomas Judd and Jasmine Cole, both of them from her year. Thomas, Scorpius' best friend, was sitting in the chair, while Jasmine sat in the arm of the same piece of furniture, her long legs crossed gracefully. She was a tall, rather white girl with long, straight brown hair that fell all the way down her chest.

"Weasley!" Thomas said. "Good to see you," he smiled. "I didn't think you'd actually bring her, Scorpius," he said, sounding rather impressed.

Scorpius rolled his eyes at his friend, while Jasmine laughed.

"Let me guess...you had a bet going on. Well...here I am. Who won?" Rose said cleverly. This time Thomas laughed.

"Hey, I like her..." he said to Scorpius.

"Nobody had a bet going," Scorpius told her. "Do you want a butterbeer?"

Rose nodded and Scorpius took off, leaving her at the couch in front of his two friends. She sat down carefully.

"Rose, you know Jasmine, right? My girlfriend..."

Jasmine smacked his head with her hand. "I'm not his girlfriend," she cleared out. "He's been trying to trick me to get me into his dorm for the past year, but I'm much smarter than that," she said to Rose. "Unlike the rest of the airheads you generally go out with." Rose laughed at that last, but noted that the position the girl was in seemed rather suggestive.

Scorpius came back with two butterbeers in his hands, Rose took one of them and he sat next to her.

"If you want something stronger, just say the words, I have a bottle of Firewhiskey upstairs," Thomas said, winking softly.

"I'm...alright," she said.

"I think we should toast..." he said raising his bottle. "For the many games we will win against Gryffindor," he declared proudly.

"I'm not toasting to that!" Rose said, with an acted insulted voice, everybody laughed. "I knew it. You brought me here to rub it all over my face, didn't you?" she told Scorpius mockingly. He shook his head while laughing. "You know...I think I could get vetoed from Gryffindor just by being here..." she admitted.

Thomas and Jasmine both laughed. "Yes, well being Scorpius has its privileges, doesn't it?" Jasmine said. Scorpius shrugged uninterestedly. Rose frowned, and began to look around the room. The people of the party looked in their direction occasionally. All of them glanced at Rose but soon went back to their activities. After a few seconds she began to understand what was going on. Slytherins respected Scorpius, they didn't mess with him, and maybe that was why he could bring a Gryffindor without being yelled at. He seemed to have some sort of status in his house.

"What do you mean by that?" Rose asked. Jasmine smiled.

"Well...people here know who Scorpius is, so they don't get in his way. They won't mess with you either, as long as you stay with him."

"And who are you?" she turned to him. Scorpius shook his head.

"Don't pay any attention to her," Scorpius suggested.

"What? You haven't shown her the mark?" Jasmine said again. Rose frowned.

"Mark? What mark?"

"The death mark," she said carelessly. Rose stopped breathing.

"Jasmine, shut up," Scorpius told her sternly. Rose's eyes widened, but she controlled her astonishment.

"You don't have the death mark!" Rose exclaimed.

"No, not the authentic one, of course! Just a tattoo," Jasmine answered.

Rose's glance was firm on Scorpius, who wore a plain expression. She tried to look for an explanation in his eyes, but she found nothing. She swallowed hard. She didn't find anything funny about painting the death mark in his arm just for the fun of it. The skin of her neck rose to the thought of it. She was still looking at Scorpius intently, waiting for him to explain. He raised his eyebrow at her, then frowned.

"What? You want to see it?" he asked. Rose's jaw dropped. That had to be a joke, a very bad joke. She nodded slowly. She had to prove that, otherwise she would never believe it.

Scorpius shrugged and began to roll up the sleeve of his black sweater, very slowly. Rose's heart jumped up and down as he revealed the white, pure skin of his wrists. He rolled the sweater up a few more inches and after a few seconds Rose found out that she was looking at absolutely nothing but smooth skin. She stared at him.

"You don't have anything," she said with a relieved voice. Jasmine and Thomas broke into laughter. Rose looked at Scorpius, but he wasn't laughing at all, his face was plain.

"Rose, you're a lucky one. He doesn't show his naked arm to anyone. Generally he just lets us mess with people. Sometimes he even plays along," Jasmine said. Rose smiled shyly, she felt stupid for falling for that joke. "Come on Tom, let's leave this two, Scorpius looks like he wants to hex me. Nice talking to you, Rose," she said with a warm smile, as she stood up and pulled Thomas by the arm.

"You too..." she smiled, and when they were left alone Rose didn't find a word to say to him.

"You actually thought I had the death mark, didn't you?" He asked her, somewhat coldly. Rose looked at him, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

"No," she was firm when she said so. She looked directly at his eyes. "I always heard the rumours and never thought they were true but...well, your friend confused me! You can't blame me for that," she said.

He sighed. "I guess not..." he whispered with a shrug. She could see some disappointment in his eyes. "She does have a...dark sense of humour. But then again, so do I, so I can't really get mad at her for messing with you either. I just didn't expect you to fall for it."

"Scorpius..." she softly said. "I never believe in rumours, especially if they are about you."

The corner of his lips twisted into a small smile, he nodded. "Most of those stories aren't true..." he told her.

"I know—"

"—But some of them are..." he then said, looking straight at her eyes. Rose felt her stomach flipping.

"Really?" she asked softly, controlling herself. "And...which stories are true and which aren't?"

Scorpius smirked, drinking from his bottle of butterbeer. Rose realized that she hadn't even tasted her own drink. "What do you want to know?" he said. She waited a moment before answering. There were a million things she wanted to know.

"Alright...I already confirmed that the death mark rumour is false, so...you used your owl pet for experiments. True or false?" Scorpius laughed out loud, while Rose chuckled softly, taking the bottle to her lips. "So? True or false?"

"False!" he said. "It got sick and died. It was painful to watch..." he said, lowering his voice.

"Sorry..." she murmured.

"What else do you want to know?"

"Let's see...Oh yes, last year you didn't come to school until late October..."

"So? What was the rumour there?"

"People say you joined a dark cult."

"Oh...good one..."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Scorpius!"

He laughed again, out loud. "False. I was in bed with spattergroit. Very nasty busyness."

"You know what? You are a lot more interesting in rumours," she said, taking the bottle to her lips.

"I know..." he smiled.

"I have another one! First year. Everybody was afraid of you. They said you knew spells regular first years couldn't dream of knowing. You hexed a boy in your year, and sent him to the hospital wing. You got into fights with students from Slytherin..." Scorpius silenced, he stared at her intently. "True or false?"

He remained silent for a moment.

"True...all of it," he said to her surprise. "I had...a few personal problems when I first came to Hogwarts. It took me a while to get pass that. I got my fame because of it."

"Oh..." Rose murmured, she had always assumed that the rumours of him being an aggressive person were nothing but that...rumours.

He drank from his bottle, looking away from her, she hadn't seen him so embarrassed in her life.

"You don't want to talk about this, do you?"

He shook his head. "Would you mind if I told you about it some other time?"

"No...that's okay," she said softly. "We can play this game later..."

He laughed and she smiled back at him. Her eyes wondered around the room. The party was still alive, and even though butterbeer didn't have a strong effect on humans, Rose could see everybody even more relaxed and happy.

A corner of the room had been cleared from the furniture, creating a small dancing floor, which was crowded with Slytherins. She wondered, for a moment, what Scorpius danced like, she even wondered if he fancied dancing at all. But she was too proud to ask him to dance, especially in the middle of a group of Slytherins, too intimidating for her taste. She saw him staring at the dance floor as well, and wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

There was a thin line between them, she could feel it. They were so close to each other that their knees brushed incidentally every two seconds. She looked at him, staring intently at the couples that danced so carelessly. He looked like he wanted to be out there too. If that was the case...then, didn't he see that all he had to do was to ask?

She then remembered that the act of asking her to come to the party with him was past the friendship line, and it was way past the studying partner's line as well. Then...what was the deal? What in the world was he waiting for?

Her chest was burning all of a sudden. He was so close...if she grabbed him by the face and branded a kiss on his lips, would he mind? Would he return it with the same intensity? Would he think she's mad?

She felt like she caused an effect on him. She had the ability of making him laugh easily, and that had to be something...that had to _mean_ something, maybe he needed a little push. Problem was...that so did she.

Scorpius' eyes finally left the dance floor and turned to settle on her. She looked up at him, and the thought of acting on it to put an end to the mystery that was their relationship crossed her head very firmly. She opened her lips and felt how they trembled softly.

"I..." she whispered faintly. Scorpius waited, but she didn't say anything else.

"You...?" he said roughly after a moment.

"I—it's late," she clumsily said. Scorpius frowned. "I should be going to my common room," she finished, biting her lips afterwards.

"Right!" he reacted. "Yes, I shouldn't have you here this late..." he said, standing up and putting his bottle on the table.

They crossed the common room in silence, and as they left she felt many pairs of eyes inspecting her again. She sighed strongly, and Scorpius must have noticed how uncomfortable she was feeling because he softly grabbed her hand and led her to the stone wall. Rose's chest became instantly warm. His hand wrapped hers perfectly, tightly, somehow possessively. That simple gesture was telling everybody in the room that she was with him, and that nobody had the right to form an opinion about it. She couldn't hold back a smile.

They crossed the stone wall, and she let him lead the way through the dark halls. She could only hear her breathing and the one of the sleeping paintings. He never let go of her hand and Rose caught herself wishing for the walk to never end. But when they were close to the sleeping portrait of the Fat Lady, Scorpius stopped walking.

"Here you are, safe and sound...can't complain."

"I'm not complaining..." she whispered, he smiled softly.

"So, how much did we bore you?" he asked. Rose laughed softly.

"I wasn't bored. I liked it, slightly intimidating though. But maybe when Gryffindor wins the House Cup I can invite you to our celebration. Then you'll know what it feels like..." she teased softly.

Scorpius laughed, shaking his head. "It's a shame, I really wish I could go to that party," he said, suddenly closer to her. She frowned.

"Why wouldn't you go?"

"Because...I'm afraid that party will take place in our humble dungeons," he whispered roughly, leaning down an inch. Rose bit her lower lip, to control a retort, but it didn't work, meanwhile Scorpius' eyes travelled to her mouth. He breathed in, as if acknowledging how suggestive her mouth was behaving.

"Nothing about Slytherin is humble, Scorpius..." she told him mischievously. Scorpius smiled and she shivered when his hand travelled to her chin. The warm sensation of her chest became intensely hot when his fingers caressed her jaw line. "And don't worry...we will win that cup..."

"Look who isn't being very humble. How can you be so sure? You're not even in the team anymore. I bet you're all rusty," he teased, his voice very soft. She raised her eyebrow. The butterflies in her stomach grew rapidly.

"I can still beat you at Quidditch..." she murmured, temptingly. He raised his eyebrows.

"We'll have to see that..." She smiled, and so did he. "Goodnight Weasley," he whispered to her mouth, leaning down slowly. Rose breathed in, she didn't know if he was heading for her cheek or her lips, but she was afraid to move and ruin his intentions.

"Young Lady!" A loud voice said. "Whatever are you doing out here so late!"

Scorpius startled and stepped back, while Rose recovered her breath. The Fat Lady had woken up and had her arms crossed sternly, as she stared at them with her accusing sleepy eyes. Rose suddenly felt the urge of taking her frame down from the wall.

"Goodnight Scorpius..." she said, and she couldn't stop her weak voice from breaking. He cleared his throat.

"Sleep well..." he murmured plainly, tucking his hands in his pockets.

She closed her eyes tightly for a moment when she turned around. If he kept moving at that slow pace then she was going to end up genuinely mad. She couldn't handle the uncertainty one more day, or one more night.

Scorpius was like the writer. No...he was worse. He was throwing small but powerful signs and then he took them away so easily that it physically hurt. He was reaching for her, and then he seemed to be reaching for her cousin. He invited her to a party for no reason at all, for the pleasure of her company, maybe, but that wasn't enough. Now he made small efforts to kiss her, and that certainly wasn't enough either. She could feel his energy, she could sense his heat. Why was he restraining himself?

He really was worse than the writer, and he was going to drive her insane. They might as well be working together to make her lose her sanity.

_Sleep well_, he had said. The words echoed in her head. She laughed bitterly, as if it were possible for her to get any sleep at all...

--

_A/N: We're going somewhere and we are soooo close. PROMISE!__!_

_I was asked very kind__ly if I could explain why I choose each song. I can't explain them all, because that might be giving away too much, but I'll do it for this chapter. Do you know when you want something badly, and you start to receive signs that suggest you might get it, so you get all excited and begin to feel like luck is striking your way? Then, suddenly, something happens that tells you: No! you will not get what you want yet._

_That's what Rose is feeling, over and over again. _

--

Artist: Jimmy Eat World

Lyrics:

_There's a chance, one of us will give in soon__  
__I could ask, but what's an answer gonna prove?__  
__I try to get mad, but the fever drops__  
__My heart can't break 'cause the beating stops__  
__Yeah, suck that lucky feeling right outta me._

_Wanna laugh, take a look around the room__  
__It's a dance, tired steps in brand new shoes__  
__I can only take a guess what the morning brings__  
__If it feels too good, then it probably is.__  
__Yeah, suck that lucky feeling right outta me_

_I follow your sign, where it leads I go.__  
__But you turned your back so easily,__  
__It tells me everything I need, yeah._

_Waiting for the line to move a foot, yeah__  
__Wasting my life on nothing good__  
__Suck that lucky feeling right outta me_

_I should act to tie you down or cut you loose__  
__It's a trap, any direction I move__  
__When I try to sing along, the needle skips__  
__I huff and then I puff, but the house is bricks__  
__Suck that lucky feeling right outta me__  
__Yeah you suck that lucky feeling right outta me.__  
_


	9. Breakthru

**Breakthru**

**--**

"Rose!" Anya said in the distance. Rose stopped walking, and turned around to wait for her friend."Do you have a free period?" she asked expectantly, during the last months Rose and Anya had spent a considerable amount of time together, while Albus ran off to his slightly strange girlfriend. Rose shook her head and showed her the parchments that rested in her hand.

"No, I have Muggle Studies, and I have a project to turn in…" she answered as she began to walk slowly again, allowing Anya to walk with her. "A Muggle book report."

"What book did you choose?" asked the girl.

"Hamlet…" she murmured. "I didn't really choose it. My brother had it lying around in his trunk. I lent the one I was reading to Scorpius."

The mentioning of the name made Rose's stomach shrink with a mixture of feelings that both tickled and hurt. Anya pressed her lips together.

"How is he? I mean…" she stopped talking.

"You mean?" Rose stopped walking again. Anya's cheeks flushed.

"Never mind," she shook her head. Rose chuckled.

"I know what you mean…" Rose said, looking down at her feet. "He's fine…" Rose breathed in. "Why? What have you heard?" she raised her eyebrow. Anya's eyes widened. She was too obvious for her sake.

"Nothing! I mean—we mentioned him during the game last Saturday and—" Rose's glance became hard and very accusing. "—fine. People say you're dating him. Everybody's talking about it. It's rather annoying. I don't see the big deal, I mean, if you fancy him and he fancies you then what's the matter with you dating him? But—"

"—Anya. I'm not really…" Rose sighed, so strongly it hurt her chest. "I'm not really dating him. As a matter of fact I have no idea what it is that I'm doing with him," she shrugged.

"But you two spend a lot of time together."

"Yes…but, I don't know…what it is that he wants."

"Rose! He doesn't talk to anybody…ever! And now you spend almost every afternoon together. Even I figured that one out quickly."

Rose laughed softly. She walked with Anya in absolute silence as they reached the Muggle Studies' classroom. During the entire walk she couldn't stop wondering what it would be like to walk down those halls holding Scorpius' hand like she had during the Slytherin party. Would everybody stare at their fingers interlaced so perfectly? Would they whisper about the incongruent match they were? For how long would they be considered the school's main event?

"You know...he might be...shy?" Anya suggested. Rose smiled, while biting her lips. She glanced at the classroom. Scorpius was already there.

"Don't you think he's...a weird guy? Spooky even? Everybody seems to think so," Rose asked.

"Well...if you fancy him, then you must have seen past that."

"Right...I'm not sure he's shy, though. Most of the time he seems to have things on his mind...maybe I'm just one of them," she whispered sadly. Anya frowned, thrown off. "I have to go inside. See you..."

Rose walked in, knowing that she was leaving a very confused Anya behind. She had no other option though, because she didn't understand much about her relationship with Scorpius either.

She breathed in as she took a seat next to him, and gave him a half smile when he looked at her as deeply as he always did.

"Did you finish reading the book?" she asked plainly, she couldn't stop feeling like her tutor, even though they hadn't discussed their assignment for over a week. Scorpius nodded firmly. "And did you write the report?" she asked, trying to sound like she didn't feel offended because he hadn't asked for her help. He nodded again. Her eyes travelled to the table, where she saw a piece of parchment folded in half. "So?" she asked after a short silence that bothered her. "Did you like it?"

"It was...fine, I guess."

"What?" she chuckled, stunned. "_Fine...I guess_? Are you joking?"

Scorpius shook his head, and Rose frowned at the silliness she was putting up with, but Professor McDuff interrupted with the initiation of the class, during which Rose didn't direct a single word to him. At the end of the class they both turned in their parchments and Rose felt and immense curiosity of knowing what he had written in his. She saw how carefully it was folded and felt annoyed at the fact that she never got to read it before he handed it to the professor.

They walked out of the classroom together, almost by reflex, Rose's head swelling with curiosity...and a bit of irritation. She had helped him with Muggle Studies for the last two months and a half, was it too terrible to want to be a part in his Muggle novel project? She didn't think so.

"So...what was it exactly that you didn't like?" Rose asked him. Scorpius turned his head at her, raising his eyebrow. He remained silent for a moment, then looked up front.

"It doesn't make much sense. Actually it doesn't make sense at all."

"What?" she retorted loudly. "What are you talking about?"

"They got themselves into that mess to begin with. They did it all wrong! Of course it was going to end up in tragedy!" he retorted gravely.

"You can't be serious. Exactly what did they do wrong? They were in love! They couldn't help it..."

"If you ask me, Romeo was a prick and Juliet was too innocent to be falling in love in the first place..."

Rose's mouth fell open. She widened her eyes as she studied the face of the man who was insulting one of her mum's favourite writers. Scorpius sped up his pace down the hallway, and Rose used that minute of silence to realize that Scorpius was clearly upset, and Rose remembered then what her mum used to tell her, every book was good as long as it made you feel a strong emotion. Scorpius wasn't being indifferent about the novel, on the contrary, he felt torn about it, which meant that he loved it, just that he didn't know it yet.

"You know what? You're just mad because they didn't live happily together in a golden meadow feedings strawberries to each other for all eternity."

"What?" Scorpius snorted, frowning at her in amusement. They had reached the entrance of the castle, and apparently they were taking a walk together. Rose wasn't going to stop and ask him where they were going. She already knew. "What does that even mean?"

"Yes. You're just angry because they died. And Juliet wasn't that innocent! And Romeo wasn't a prick."

"More than a prick he was a coward..."

"A coward?" she laughed, and as she felt him speeding his pace even more she grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. "What would you have done in his place?"

Scorpius lowered his glance to meet hers. His grey eyes speaking in advance.

"I would have stolen her," he declared. Rose raised a single eyebrow, her eyes firm, she parted her lips slowly, her skin shivering. "From the beginning."

"Isn't that...a bit drastic?" she quietly asked.

"More drastic than suicide?" he said deeply. Rose chuckled nervously.

"A bit...selfish, then? Stealing her away...from her family, her life."

Scorpius took a step closer, her hand was still grasping his arm, and he didn't seem to mind at all.

"Love can get a bit selfish."

Rose smiled, even when she didn't agree with him completely, she could somehow understand that love could be somewhat selfish. Her smile was of such pleasure that she could barely control it. She never expected purebloods to fully understand Muggle literature, they generally ignored it. But Scorpius' reaction was more than satisfying, he had involved himself with the characters, even if he claimed that he didn't like them.

He smiled back, softly.

"And Romeo? What kind of name is that? It's rubbish..." he teased. She rolled her eyes.

"Now you're just being obnoxious...I'm not even listening to you anymore," she said, letting go of his arm and walking forward. Scorpius laughed, and her muscles ached to the sound of it.

"Isn't it? What does it even mean?" he asked, passing her. Rose stopped to think.

"Um...man from Rome..." she slowly said. "You're right. Maybe it is a bit of rubbish," she joked. Scorpius laughed again and she retook her pace.

"But who I'm I kidding? My name probably sounds like complete rubbish too," he then said.

"What's wrong with your name? It's pretty cool. Scorpius is a constellation."

"I guess. It's also supposed to mean...great hunter, or something like that."

Rose stopped walking and contemplated him as he leaned to cross the low trees and heavy bushes. "See...great hunter," she murmured. "Rather cool." Scorpius turned around, and gave her a half smile that fed her amusement. She crossed the low trees as well.

"At least few people are named like you. My name on the other hand is...a flower...a simple, pretty, very common flower," she said as she passed the bushes herself. "My cousin and I...we are the family flowers...isn't that corny?"

She heard him laugh softly. She felt an unpleasant twist in her stomach. She hadn't meant to bring her cousin to the subject. As much as she hated to admit it, she preferred to pretend like Lily didn't exist when she was with Scorpius. It gave her something less to worry about. The problem was, that if by any chance Lily really was interested in Scorpius, then Rose had to put an end to everything, or at least set things straight with her. But that would be far too complicated, especially when she and Scorpius weren't anything to begin with.

"Not true..." Scorpius said then. "Rose is the flower of passion. Can your cousin Lily say the same?"

"No...but she was named after her grandmother, and that's big."

"Oh..." he murmured. "So, bottom line...you don't like your name."

"Actually I do like it. But only because I like the way it sounds when others say it," she admitted. Scorpius turned to her. They had reached _his_ spot, and she was taking her bag off and setting it on the ground.

"When who says it?" he asked, his grey eyes filled with curiosity. Rose shrugged plainly.

"I don't know, my mum says with...property...Dad always makes it sound beautiful. And my grand, on my mum's side, she says it with a melodic tone of voice that I just...love," she smiled warmly.

"Nice..." he murmured deeply. Rose chuckled shyly.

"I know. You don't have to say it. I'm a freak…"

"No. I get what you mean, about liking the way it sounds when someone's lips pronounce it," he slowly whispered. Rose breathed in, Scorpius had given her explanation an entirely different context. She had meant that her relatives made it sound familiar, close, safe. The way Scorpius had just said it made it seem somehow...intimate. But did he love how her lips pronounced his name? Did he love how other girls pronounced his name?

"Right..." she cleared her throat. "So you understand what I mean," she said softly, sitting on the ground. He did the same. "So, who chose your name?" she quickly asked, avoiding by all means an awkward silence from her.

"My father," he said, his eyes staring towards the lake. "My family is all about...following footsteps. There's a long line of males named with strong, latin names. Each name is supposed to mean something great. Draco...my father, represents a powerful, protective dragon."

"So, it's a tradition..." Rose pointed out.

"Call it tradition if you want, or lack of creativity. A great great grandfather of mine was named Scorpius as well."

"There's nothing wrong with tradition," Rose frowned. "And...your grandfather...Lucius...is it?" she said, knowing how much curiosity that man produced her. She had never spoken of him with Scorpius. As a matter of fact, it was awfully hard to hear him speak of his family.

Scorpius turned to see her. "It means...light, _he who is meant to shine_," he said, slowly, gravely, somehow ironically. "It also means _king_, meant to lead his people..." he stopped, and chuckled very softly. He had developed a bitter grimace she had never seen on him, like he was trying to make fun of his own grandfather. "Merlin knows where he would lead us to if he had the chance..." he concluded, very softly. Rose's frown was deeper. She stared at him, in absolute silence. After a moment she swallowed.

"What...does that mean?" She asked, and heard how her voice broke. Scorpius stared at the lake again.

"Nothing..." he absently said. Rose sighed quietly, very disappointed. Scorpius looked at her again. She could see that he was faking that small smile. "So, you are a girl who enjoys traditions, then?" he asked, changing the subject intelligently.

"Of course..."

"Tell me some of your family traditions," he softly requested. Rose laughed.

"I don't remember any...um, red heads?" Scorpius smiled, shaking his head.

"That doesn't count."

"Does being loud and pushy and meddling in everybody's business count?"

Scorpius laughed. "Maybe..."

"Then maybe I have one. We get together at my Grand's place, _The Burrow_, to celebrate every holiday, birthday, and especial occasion we have. Sometimes we have lunch there on a Sunday for no reason, and it ends up looking like Christmas Eve," she said. Scorpius' smile became warmer. "And basically all we do is...sit around. My grand cooks, my mum or my aunts help her...when she lets them, that is. Some play Quidditch, others fight. But basically, we get loud, and we just...get in everybody's life and...it can be pretty annoying at times."

He laughed brightly. "Sounds great..."

"Christmas Eve is a disaster! Nobody finds their presents, or they get mixed up...and we always try to talk over our own voices, and the radio is too loud!" she complained, and then stopped to think for a moment. "But you're right...it is great," Rose admitted. "The best part is always having some of my grand's pudding. And what are your Christmas holidays like?"

"Oh...not much. At my house is just...my parents, my grandparents and me. So, it's not really loud or crowded more than it is dull and boring."

"You don't have other relatives that come over?"

Scorpius stared at her intently, he lowered his voice even more.

"You do know that most of my relatives are either dead or in Azkaban...right?"

Rose's heart stopped. Her cheeks burned in a matter of seconds from the embarrassment. "Yes..." she swallowed. "Well...you do have an aunt in my family," she shyly said. "Andromeda, Teddy's grandmother. That makes you and Teddy...family," she suggested. Scorpius didn't look at her, his stare became firm on the lake.

"Ted Lupin," he said. Rose was surprised that he knew his last name.

"You know him?" she asked. Teddy had already finished Hogwarts when Scorpius and Rose arrived for their first year.

"Only a little" Scorpius said. Rose frowned. "Just like Andromeda," he absently said.

A rush of curiosity filled Rose's head and chest in a matter of seconds. She wanted to ask him how they had met, but he got ahead of her.

"I don't think she would be invited to a family diner, though," he absently said. "But I do have what you could call an uncle on the run. Rodolphus Lestrange. Maybe he will drop by for diner this Christmas," he said. Rose froze. She knew her eyes had widened. She stood still for a few seconds.

"Sorry..." Scorpius said, closing his eyes tightly for a second. "Bad joke. Terrible joke. I'm really sorry," he said, shaking his head. His eyes developed an apologetic look.

"Oh..." she said, chuckling nervously. "That's fine...it's okay." She cleared her throat. "I get it, you have a small family."

"I have some uncles and cousins on my mother's side. I don't see them much, though. And my parents throw fancy balls in our house now and then...but that's just as dull and boring as our private diners."

"Maybe I can invite you for Christmas sometime. You'll learn to appreciate the quietness of your family," she joked. Scorpius smiled.

"And you suppose your parents would put up with me?"

"Of course!" she said, filled with security. "You'll love my family," she assured him, and then became quiet for a moment. She bit her lips. "What about your family? Do they like having strangers over?"

Scorpius stared at her, then sighed. "Depends on the stranger. Rose...you wouldn't want to meet them."

Rose's throat locked. That had been straight and direct, hurtful even.

"I wouldn't mind meeting them," she said. "But apparently you think they would hate me."

"I don't think anything, okay? I never said that."

"Your face was more than any response."

"Listen. My family is complicated. My mum and grandmother..." he sighed. "They are caring, over protective even. My father, on the other hand, he is a very complicated man. I didn't say he would hate you...just that...Rose, you wouldn't want to deal with him. He's not easy."

Rose frowned in confusion. The more he talked the less she understood. "You're leaving your grandfather out," she pointed out bitterly. He turned to her.

"I never include him," he said sternly, strictly even. "It's you who keeps pulling him in the conversation."

Rose's mouth dropped open. She rambled softly for a few seconds. "I—I didn't mean to...I'm sorry."

Scorpius breathed out strongly, and closed his eyes for a moment. "No...It's alright. I..." He didn't finish. He stood up from the ground and offered her his hand to pull her up as well.

"Scorpius..." she softly said, as he took her bag from the floor and handed it to her. "I get it. I don't have the right to meddle in your family's business. I know they have a strong opinion of my family. And it's fine. I just thought that since it was such a long time ago, then...our differences wouldn't matter to them."

Scorpius didn't answer. He looked at the lake for the longest of seconds. After a minute the stern silence began to consume her nerves. She wouldn't take it much longer. She felt the urge of shaking him, making him say everything that was crossing his mind. But the only thing she did was place her hand on his arm, softly.

"I don't really understand what goes on between you and your father, but...if he doesn't approve of you being friends with me. Then, it's not your fault, and I understand if you feel bad about it because...my dad's approval is really important to me too."

Scorpius chuckled, and shook his head softly. The ironical, hard grimace she disliked so much came back to his face.

"Mine isn't," he murmured.

"It isn't?" she frowned in disconcert. That couldn't be possible.

"No...it isn't," he confirmed.

"He's your father..." she looked, without blinking, sternly and somehow oblivious.

"I know...but I can't care for his approval."

She waited, patiently, for him to conclude, but she soon found that it was the end of his explanation. She looked at him, at his deep and concentrated eyes, fixated on the distance.

"You're scary sometimes..." she murmured. Scorpius turned to look at her in a fast move, suddenly frowning.

"I'm scary? I—"

"Yes," she assured, her eyes firm.

"I'm not scary," Scorpius chuckled sarcastically. "Or at least..._you're_ not scared of me..." he said, trying to convince himself.

"Sometimes you are. You don't finish your sentences. It's like you always want to tell me something, but you never do. I'm never really sure what you mean. I think...there are things you don't want me to know about you...or your family."

Scorpius looked down, at his feet for a brief moment. "And that scares you?" he said once his eyes came back to hers.

"A little..." she whispered.

"Why?" he approached her, softly.

"I don't...know" she breathed in. "It just does."

He shook his head, very slowly, and remained silent for a moment. "Whatever you want to know..." he said, leaning down towards her. "Just ask. I'll tell you."

"Anything?" she murmured, grasping his arm very tightly. He nodded softly.

"What do you want to know about me?" he whispered, leaning closer. Rose felt a cold vibe traveling up her body. He moved closely to her, settling his hand on her waist, something that made her legs go stiff, she y stood on her tiptoes slowly, to shorten the distance between her desperate lips and his.

But just when she closed her eyes, she heard a small cough coming from behind. She turned abruptly, and saw a few leaves moving in a bush. Rose freed herself from Scorpius' grip, and walked slowly to the small plant, wishing her suspicions to be false.

A boy, with fiery red hair, jumped out of the bush and ran out of his hiding place.

"What—Hugo?" she shrieked in astonishment. Rose turned to Scorpius. "I—I'll talk to you later—" she quickly said, and ran through the leaves and out of the spot by the lake.

"Hugo!" she yelled from the distance. He was fast, she already knew that, but she was faster with the wand, and she knew how to take advantage of it.

She didn't even have to say the spell out loud. Her lips murmured _Cunfundo_, as her wand pointed at her little brother, who tripped on his own feet and fell to the floor.

"Hey!" he yelled from the ground. Rose ignored his complaint and held him by the arm to pull his confused self up.

"Why..." she murmured, trying to gather some patience. "Why do you have to spy on me? You always do that!"

"I wasn't spying! I was making sure you were alright!"

"WHAT? Are you mad? Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"He's...a freak, that's why!" Hugo said loudly. "I don't trust him! And now everybody says you're with him. Is it true?"

"Hugo I don't have to report to you!"

"Is it true or isn't it?" her brother demanded. Rose rolled her eyes, pressing her lips together to gather some patience. She sighed strongly.

"Not that it's any of your business...but we're just friends, okay?"

Hugo frowned harshly, so like their mum that it felt disturbing. "What I saw didn't look like just friends."

"Well, that's what we are so you'll have to settle for that..." she said, and her words came out, not for her brother but for herself. She had heard herself speaking so bitterly that she felt bad for the way she was treating her brother. As silly as it was, he was concerned about her safety, like Albus had been concerned about the writer.

It wasn't their fault that she wasn't getting anywhere with Scorpius.

"Fine..." he murmured grumpily. "Just watch out..." he said. Rose chuckled, rolling her eyes at her brother's unusual behaviour.

"Hugo...I can take care of myself," she retorted with a small smile, before she messed his hair with her fingers. Hugo protested to the gesture. "Since when do you care this much?" Hugo shrugged, tugging his hands inside his pockets. "Listen...I really need a favour," she said then, taking him by the arm again. "Don't talk about this to anybody."

"Tell them what? You just said you were friends..." Hugo pointed out. Rose sighed. "Nothing to tell, right?" he reminded her, somewhat bored.

"Right..." she retorted weakly, her soft voice breaking. "Nothing to tell. And stop following me around!" she then told him. Hugo murmured something about how bossy she had become, and he walked back to the castle.

--

Rose was getting used to having diner without Albus every night. Generally he arrived rather late to the table, or he ate with Annamarie and her Hufflepuff friends. Whenever that happened Anya appeared magically at Rose's table with a rather traumatic expression on her face. Rose never said anything to her, but she knew quite well that the girl was escaping the torment of having Albus at her own table with his girlfriend.

This night, though, Albus was already having dinner alone at the Gryffindor table when Rose arrived. She frowned, taking a seat in front of him. Rose turned around and gazed at the Hufflepuff table, Annamarie was sitting with her friends, carelessly eating and talking. Every single one of her moves was delicate, almost posed. She frequently smiled and laughed at her friend's comments. Rose turned back to her cousin.

"Did you two have a figh—"

"—I don't want to talk about it," Albus said, without looking at her, taking a bite out of a hot potato.

"Fine..." she shrugged. She looked at the food that was served, and didn't feel appealed of tasting any of it. Her eyes wondered across the table. At the end of it was her brother with two male friends. All of them folding pieces of parchments, once they were made into small animals, Hugo used a spell to bring them to life. Rose shook her head, she couldn't believe he had managed to spread the fever across his wizard, supposedly normal, friends. A few seats far from him was Lily, eating slowly as she read a book, probably something related to Quidditch. Rose hadn't spoken to her about what she saw in the hall between her and Scorpius, there wasn't really anything to tell her. But Rose felt highly curious to find out if she fancied him, only that she also felt too afraid to ask and get a positive answer.

Rose turned her head to gaze at the Slytherin table. The uncomfortable butterflies returned to her stomach once she saw that Scorpius was already looking at her from the distance. She breathed in, very slowly but deeply. His face, so serious, was concentrated on her. Next to him were Jasmine and Thomas, both submerged into conversation, but Scorpius was clearly not listening to them. Rose couldn't help feeling intimidated by the weight of his glance, but as intimidating as it was, she also felt perfectly drawn to it. She couldn't stop looking at his eyes.

Albus cleared his throat, and Rose turned back abruptly, blushing fervently.

"Are you two dating now? Even Annemarie asked me if the rumour was true..." he said.

"Brilliant," she retorted, rolling her eyes. "I don't know..." she answered.

Albus looked at her. "You don't know?"

"Can you be dating someone when all you do is...talk?" Rose asked.

"Sure...if I'm dating someone who _won't_ talk at all, then I don't see why it can't be the other way around," he replied, rather bitterly.

"What?" Rose asked, thrown off. Albus drank from his cup.

"She won't talk. She won't tell me anything..." he admitted. "Her plans for the Holidays, or maybe why the bloody hell was Harris Reed flirting with her at the library this afternoon," he concluded placing his fork and knife hard on the plate.

"Oh..." Rose said.

"Is it wrong that it pissed me off?" Albus asked. "The bloke was inches away from her, acting like a git, making her laugh. When I asked her what the hell was going on she blew up at me."

"No...I think it's normal to be jealous," she shrugged. "Especially if she was flirting back," she said, aching when she imagined Lily laughing at something Scorpius said. She shook her head, she had to quit thinking about it.

Albus exhaled strongly. "Women are mental..."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You guys aren't very normal yourselves," she said, accidently catching sight of her young brother, who had a won the attention of his classmates, all amused by the live swans, frogs and even by a paper dragon that burned into ashes the moment it exhaled a small ball of fire.

She left Albus at the Great Hall to do rounds. Before exiting she shot one last glance towards the Slytherin table, and found that Scorpius wasn't there anymore. She took off and walked slowly, sighing more than usual, and wondering if she could just skip rounds and go back to her common room without anybody noticing. Her sense of responsibility didn't let her follow her own impulse and she ended up walking the boring, long halls by herself.

"Everything alright with your brother?" A voice asked when she was in one of the lower floors.

Rose startled, but smiled immediately as she turned around.

"Honestly...why do you always have to sneak around the castle at this time of night? You scare people, you know."

He grinned. "Are you asking that as a prefect or as a friend?"

"Does it make a difference?" she asked, raising her eyebrow sharply. "I thought I was entitled to any question I wanted..." she softly said. Scorpius chuckled, walking forward.

"Practicing Quidditch?" he asked. Rose studied him up and down.

"You don't have your broom with you..."

"Damn...you're smarted than I thought," he teased. "I was looking for someone," he said to her, contemplating her eyes. Rose smiled, as softly as she could. "So...about your brother..."

"He's still alive, if that's what you're asking," she replied. Scorpius laughed and she took off to continue the walk down the hallway.

"You weren't going to kill your little brother," he said.

"Little? Who's little? He's old enough to stop meddling in my life. And he could use a good scare. I'm telling you...he can be so...urgh!"

Scorpius laughed again. "So, you want to kill him most of the time..."

"Yes, but I haven't done it because that would leave me as a single child, and I don't really want to be a single child. So, no matter how many times I say it, never believe me. I...actually love the little git. I don't know what I would do without him."

Scorpius looked at her, smiling so softly that she couldn't stop herself from doing the same.

"I suppose being a single child has its advantages, though," she then told him.

"You're not missing on anything," he shrugged.

"One question. Who do you release your reprehended anger with?"

Scorpius laughed, shaking his head. "Only Childs are not allowed to release our reprehended anger..."

"Oh...that's awful," she said in concern.

"Pretty much," he smiled.

"The problem with brothers and big families is that everybody has a word in your life. Privacy becomes a very occasional privilege. I can't even go out with someone without being interrogated by my cousins."

He didn't laugh at that last, and his sudden lack of feedback made Rose feel uncomfortable. She realized that they were walking impulsively.

"And...you never do the same to them?" he suddenly asked.

"Not really," Rose shrugged. "But...maybe if...I don't know...Lily was seeing someone who wasn't good for her...maybe then I'd try to make her listen to me. I wouldn't want her to get hurt," Rose said. She had chosen Lily as an example because she was her closest female cousin, but also because she felt suddenly intrigued of seeing his reaction to such statement, and then out of nowhere she felt suddenly frightened.

Scorpius stopped walking, and turned to her. Rose's heart skipped a beat. "So what would you do if she was seeing someone not suitable for her?" he asked, rather softly. Rose breathed in, and looked down for a moment.

"There's not much to do, really. She's a bit of a rebel," Rose gave out, weakly. "But I'd advice her to stay away from him."

"And you think it would be easy for her to do that?" he inquired, looking into her eyes. Rose felt her feet melting into the floor.

"No, but...I would suggest her to keep the physical contact to a minimal...so that she won't feel tempted."

"Why?" Scorpius whispered, taking a step up front. Rose swallowed softly, but her throat felt dry by now.

"Physical contact makes you want...things from the guy..." she blinked. Scorpius smirked, very gently.

"And...the lack of physical contact makes you want those things less?"

Rose heard the silence that grew between them, longer than the distance that separated them. She looked at the floor again for a few seconds, and smiled shyly, before she breathed in again.

"I might have to...rearrange my theory."

"You should...it's rubbish."

Rose laughed quietly, while Scorpius remained expectant. Her heart suddenly lost control, beating unstoppably, swearing to betray her prudent manners. She felt her chest rising from the rush of adrenaline that was suddenly attacking her. She figured she needed to speak to distract herself.

"Can I ask you...a question?" she softly said. He sighed strongly, and shrugged.

"Go on...make it an easy one, though."

She blinked again, and chuckled nervously, while thinking of something to ask that wouldn't compromise her.

"Why are you taking Muggle Studies?" she gave out, regretting the question as she said it. She had already tried to get that information out of him, and he always ended up looking insulted.

He laughed, and shook his head again. "You're unbelievable...You just have to know, don't you?"

Rose shrugged innocently. She smiled.

"You know those things kids do to please their parents?"

"Of course," she nodded. "I tend to get that impulse often," she admitted.

"So you do things just to make them feel proud?"

"Sure..." she nodded again.

"Then let's say that I was only...doing the opposite."

"What?" she stopped nodding. "You took Muggle Studies to..."

"Piss them off," he said plainly.

"You must be joking."

"No." Scorpius shrugged.

"And that really worked?"

Scorpius smiled, devilishly. "It was third year. I was...angry, and I took the subject to make a point, that's all. My dad was upset, but my grandfather...now _he_ was worth watching," he said with a proud tone in his voice. Rose's mouth fell open in disconcert.

"That's...really strange."

"Yes, you said you have a strange family. What can I say, then? I tried to be good at it at first to piss them off even more, but I know nothing about Muggles, and Quidditch kind of got in the way. But...now that I found a tutor..."

Rose smiled, laughing softly. "I knew it. You're using me to drive your family mad," she joked.

Scorpius' face became plain. He took another step towards her, and Rose's heart began to lose its prudence again.

"Don't ever say that..." he whispered, shaking his head softly.

"What? The part about driving your family mad?"

"No...the part about using you..." he made it clear, piercing her eyes with his. "Don't ever say that."

Rose nodded faintly. She let him study her face, loving how he travelled his eyes down her cheeks and lips. "Scorpius..."

"What?" he said, so quietly she could barely hear him. He raised his hand and slowly moved it to her jaw.

"What goes on with you and your grandfather? Why are you so mad at him? At your parents? Why do you keep—"

He had leaned down so fast she hadn't had the time to prepare her mind. His lips had rushed to brush the words off her mouth. His hand, his fingers pressed against her jaw line while his demanding kiss seduced her into parting her lips fast, to follow his rhythm.

Her heart wasn't beating frenetically anymore, on the contrary, it had left her chest, hiding somewhere it could be safe from blowing up. Rose felt him breathing deeply, as he pressed his free hand against her waist with enough strength to make her legs tremble.

Rose's hands ran for his chest, to feel his pulse under his shirt and skin. She returned the kiss with such eagerness that she forgot to breathe. But it wasn't until her throat locked and her chest began to ache that she remembered that air was required to live a little longer.

She separated, almost impossibly, her lips from his, preserving the intimate distance that was tying them up. She breathed deeply, her eyes opening slowly. She saw him struggling, his eyes still shut, his mouth waiting for her to recover, and after he let her breathe for five seconds, his lips forced her to kiss him again.

This time he held her tighter, and as his hand held her head firmly, she told her fingers to run down his blond, impressively soft locks. She heard nothing, except the speed of his breathing, which made her own exhilaration worst.

Her mind went blank, lost, until she was reminded again that she had no air left to breathe. She pushed him away with a small amount of strength, and opened her eyes abruptly. He had done the same.

They looked into each other's eyes, his glance was as lost as her own. Rose breathed frenetically, trying to gain composure.

"I..." he mumbled and Rose waited. When he said nothing and as she felt the air returning to her lungs, she let go of his embrace, suddenly realising how mellow her legs had become, and how her feet tickled oddly.

"It's so late..." she gave out, gasping for fresh air. "I have to go..."

"Of course," Scorpius nodded. He didn't move, he simply looked at her. He seemed to be waiting for something else to happen, just like she was.

"Good—"

"Night..."

"Okay..." she whispered, turning around fast and leaving.

--

She reached the common room fast, entered and saw herself in the mirror, her lips were a bright tone of pink. Rose ran her fingertips all over the surface of her mouth, hypnotizing herself as she recalled every second of it.

When she came back from her flashback she breathed deeply and walked to the sofa in front of the fireplace, throwing herself on it.

Her lips trembled slightly, almost aching, her heart danced unbearably. She stared into the flames of the fireplace, recalling the moment over and over. A suffocating pressure pierced her chest every time she remembered the details.

She breathed again to suppress the pressure of her chest, trying to welcome reason into her mind. First kisses were supposed to be...short, soft, awkward, shy even. First kisses were insecure, hesitant.

What had happened between Scorpius and her had been none of that. He had moved so fast that she almost couldn't react, and when she did she had practically thrown herself at him, to a point where it became almost impossible to make it stop.

Rose pressed her head against the sofa, shutting her eyes tightly, feeling how her heart menaced with breaking out of her body. She heard the portrait of the fat lady opening, and made no effort in turning around to find out who it was. Instead, she let the flames of the fire capture her attention, without shutting the images and feelings of the previous seconds off her mind.

She startled when she saw that Albus had spotted her and had walked up to the sofa. He threw himself on it so strongly that her body bounced a little. He sat very close to her, and without looking at him or saying a word, she took advantage of the closeness between them to rest her head on his shoulder.

"What's up?" he murmured distracted, clearly tired himself.

"Nothing..."

They both sat quietly for a moment, looking at the burning fire.

"You alright?" Albus asked.

"Yes," she answered plainly.

"Are you sure? You look different."

"I do?" she jumped, she felt him nodding. "How different?"

"I don't know...very different."

Rose chuckled quietly, against his warm shoulder.

"Did you get another note?"

"No..." she rolled her eyes, a gesture he couldn't see because his head was over hers.

"Then...you were with Scorpius..." he stated solemnly. Rose glared at the fire. She nodded softly.

"Rose...just be careful, alright?"

"People keep saying that..." she murmured in sudden annoyance.

"Just watch out. That's all I'm saying. You don't know what he might want from you."

Rose frowned, and felt her heart shrinking. She understood his statement rather well.

"Maybe what he wants is the same thing I want from him..." she teased softly. Albus quickly looked at her from above his shoulder, and she saw how scolding his eyes had become. "It was a joke, Al...Merlin...you're sensitive lately."

He went back to his relaxed sitting position, and chuckled after a moment. "I know you better than that...and you can't pull it off anyway."

"Pull what off?"

"Having casual...you get what I mean. Instead, you'll fall in love and won't realize it."

"First of all, I said it was a joke, I'm not having casual anything with anybody. Second...do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. And I've never even been in love...I mean not really..."

"Exactly..."

"So?"

"So you're saying you don't fancy this bloke more than normal?"

"So what if—"

"He's a strange guy, Rose. I'm not saying he's bad, I'm just saying you should walk with your eyes open. You barely know him."

"Technically...I've known him for six years, and look who is talking. You barely know Annemarie."

"Good point," Albus shrugged.

They remained silent for a brief minute.

"Just watch out Rose. I don't want you to get hurt."

Rose smiled, weakly. Albus had been straight and honest about it. Scorpius came across as a person who shouldn't be trusted easily, but she didn't know if that was his mask or his true appearance. Of course, the only way she could get hurt was involving herself with him so much that there was no turning back, and after tonight she understood that that was exactly what she was doing.

"Al..." she murmured, breaking the warm silence the fire had brought them. He looked at her. "You know...I trusted Patrick, and look how that turned out."

"But you weren't falling for the bloke...so it wasn't really dangerous to trust him."

Like the dancing flames of the fireplace, Rose's heart jumped fervently.

"Now you're making things up," she lied impulsively. "How can you possibly know if I'm falling for him or not?"

"I've known you all my life," he said.

Rose breathed in, softly, filing her chest with air.

"Al...What's it like when you're with her? Annemarie, that is..."

Albus laughed softly, shaking his head. Rose lifted her head up for a moment, and saw that he wasn't planning on answering anytime soon.

"Oh, come on, you're embarrassed now?" she asked, sitting straight on the sofa to look at him directly. "We can talk about this stuff."

Albus turned his head at her. "Rose, we never talk about this stuff."

"Well...we should," she said. Albus smiled, breathed in and looked at the fireplace again.

"I really fancy her," he said, rather gravely. Rose frowned.

"I know that. I have barely seen you these past weeks. But how come it sounds like a bad thing?"

"I'm not very sure she feels the same," he solemnly concluded.

She couldn't help feeling a sudden resentment towards the girl. How could someone not be head over heels over Albus? Especially since he had been investing all his time and attention on her...

"So you get that rush at the bottom of your stomach, right?" she asked, out of pure curiosity. Albus frowned. "And the awfully weird headache sometimes, and the nauseating—"

"—Nauseous? The bloke makes you nauseous? That can't be good." Albus chuckled, and then Rose understood that probably no matter how badly he fancied Annemarie, he had never felt half of what Rose was feeling. She wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Well...not nauseous. I mean, it's hard to explain. It's this thing—I can't really breathe at times..."

"Merlin, Rose. Either you're mad or really intense," he laughed.

Rose slapped his shoulder, rolling her eyes. "Never mind..." she said grumpily, feeling foolish for opening herself that much to Albus, he was a guy, after all, and as such there were things he didn't understand.

"The thing is..." he said as his smile faded. "All those things you just said... I'm pretty sure that Anne doesn't feel them. She's just...having fun. Not that I'm complaining but..."

Rose looked at him, frowning in disconcert.

"It sounds like you're the one who should be careful now..."

"Nah, I'll be fine. But I have to admit that I don't want some git just _having fun _with you."

Rose chuckled, taking his hand. "I can handle it. I'm a big girl," she joked, and hoped to be right about herself.

--

The next day Rose woke up with a rush too strong to avoid. As the morning passed by she concentrated on her classes to distract herself. Falling asleep the previous night had been an almost impossible task. Scorpius' touch, the strength of his lips, the heat of his skin; it had all consumed her thoughts in the dark. Now she was trying to live through the morning like a regular student, rather than an obsessed girl who couldn't stop fantasising about the guy she had just kissed.

As the afternoon got closer, the butterflies in Rose's stomach became stronger and bigger. She had Potions, and not only would she see him there but she would also sit by him. She even spent Herbology ignoring Mindy, her Mimbulus Mimbletonia, and preparing herself to behave properly when she was in front of him.

When the time to enter Potions came Rose found out that the previous hour of preparation had been useless and the moment she saw him sitting at their table, her heart jumped, her legs shivered, her head fogged, all at once. Maybe Albus was right, maybe she was a little too intense for a normal person.

She sat by him and he turned his head softly the moment she had settled down. Scorpius smiled and Rose felt free to return the gesture. They didn't exchange a word during the entire class. She pretended to be listening to the professor intently and from the corner of her eye she could see him sitting very still, pretending to be as concentrated as her.

Time went by slowly, and every second that passed by turned the distance that was separating them into something unbearable. Their hands brushed incidentally more than once, and their eyes met momentarily as well, but not a word fell from their mouths.

When the class was over they waited for the room to empty. Rose was the first to stand up and as she picked her parchments and her quill she met his grey eyes one more time. He looked at her, she swallowed softly.

"Can we talk for a moment?" he asked solemnly. Rose nodded and took off to leave the classroom, knowing that he was following her closely. She couldn't stop glancing at him as she walked out of the castle, wondering how he could keep himself together so easily.

They reached the spot by the lake fast and they both threw their bags on the ground, as they always did. Scorpius hid his hands inside his pockets, as he stood in a corner, leaning against the bark of the tree that turned that place into a somehow dark, private spot.

Rose crossed her arms, standing by the shore of the lake, rather far from him, hearing nothing but the insufferably loud sound of her own heartbeat.

"So?" she inquired softly, hating his bad habit of making her wait.

"So..." he said back, walking towards her. Rose's breathing increased immediately as he approached her. "Last night..."

"What about last night?" she rushed herself to say.

"I might owe you an apology," he said, stopping when he was very close.

"What?" Rose frowned in astonishment. "Apology?" She uncrossed her arms, and she knew that her voice had begun to sound upset. Scorpius nodded.

"What happened...I didn't mean for any of that to happen...like it did."

Rose stopped breathing. A hurricane unleashed inside of her, violently. "What—" she chuckled, but her face wasn't amused at all. "If what you mean is that you made a mistake then—"

Scorpius took her arm, frowning slightly. "—When I pictured that kiss in my head before it went on much more...smoothly," he said, ignoring her entire reaction. "But I don't know what—came to me, and I scared you off."

"Oh..." Rose whispered, blinking, and lifting her eyes to gaze into his. Her cheeks flushing. "You didn't...scare me off," she softly said. Scorpius frowned again, before slowly studying her eyes, then the lines of her nose, then her lips. He took one last but firm step forward, and the hurricane that had settled in her stomach became stronger. She stood still, to avoid looking nervous.

"Rose, you practically ran away," he whispered roughly. Rose felt her cheeks burning. She hadn't been as scared of him as she had been of herself.

"Yes—well—I—" she rambled, hiding her hair behind her ears, nervously.

"Anyway..." he whispered, caressing her jaw line with his hand. "Can we give it another try?"

Rose smiled weakly. "I think we should."

He slipped his hand under her jaw and held her face firmly, using his other hand to embrace her waist. Rose's heart was beating at the top of her throat. She closed her eyes at the sense of his touch, as his thumb explored her flushed cheeks. She waited, more tense than ever, for him to make a move, but other than feeling his face close to hers, nothing happened.

Rose's lips parted open when she felt the heat of his breath. But after seconds of a maddening wait, Rose opened her eyes. He saw him dangerously close and yet, annoyingly still.

"What are you waiting for?" Rose whispered, her words echoing between their lips. He smiled, a half smiled that made her toes shiver.

"For your brother to appear, a teacher to interrupt, maybe even a tree to fall on us."

A short, nervous laugh left her throat. The thumping of her heart didn't let her enjoy the intimacy of his closeness. Her hand travelled instinctively to his neck, and her fingers wrapped his shirt very softly, but strong enough to pull his head down, only a few inches.

The hurricane became a tempest. Rose breathed in, gaining enough air to return the kiss properly, while her hands grabbed on to his chest tightly.

The feeling of his heart, beating frenetically under his chest and under her fingers accelerated the rhythm of her breathing. Scorpius pressed her face strongly against his, and his hand hid under the curls that covered her neck.

Her skin shivered, and he used that sudden move of hers to break the kiss. He remained quite close to her. He was breathing rapidly, and as she opened her eyes she felt him branding her skin with his lips, leaving small, slow kisses spread over the corner of her mouth, her jaw and then even her neck. She held on to him strongly, preventing a fall.

"Rose," he whispered roughly, her toes curled, and a light gasp left her throat when she felt her name being said by him.

"Yes?" she asked faintly. She felt his lips and the tip of his nose traveling to her ear, to the corner where her neck begun. His left hand ventured down elegantly, caressing her shoulder, her arm, settling on her waist firmly. When Rose felt his lips closely to her ear, she spread her arms behind his neck, closing her eyes and waiting for him to do whatever he wanted to.

"There's something I..." he hesitated, but Rose didn't let him finish, she pushed his head back, to find his lips again. She kissed him so deeply that it was impossible for them to breathe. He pressed her smoothly against him. There was something unexplainably pleasant about feeling him doing his best to maintain his composure.

It took her long, distant minutes to separate herself from him. "What is it?" she whispered, remembering how he had tried to tell her something before. Her eyes opened, meeting with his grey, attentive glance.

He shook his head. "Nothing...not important," he said. He leaned down, this time his firm moves made her lose her balance, she stepped back to recover herself and Scorpius grabbed her waist with more strength than before. She felt how he moved her, and finally pressed her softly against the bark of a tree.

Her heart burned, cutting her breathing short. There was something about the way he held her that made her feel unconditionally his.

Rose lost track of the time, even when there was still a conscious side of her brain warning her that she should be prudent about snogging that passionately in the school's grounds.

With the same amount of strength than before he pulled back and took a deep breath. Rose did the same, opening her eyes, already missing his mouth. He cleared his throat strongly and walked backwards, distancing himself from her.

"Sorry...about that as well," he said.

In the middle of her stupefied reaction, Rose chuckled softly, wondering if he was going to apologise after every kiss he gave her. But more important was to know if they were going to lose themselves that fervently to each other every time their lips met. It was odd, confusing, something she had never even dreamed to experienced. It was also unknown territory, maybe even a little dangerous.

She thought of how Albus claimed her to be either mad or intense. Maybe Scorpius was intense and she was the mad one. It could also be the other way around. For what it was worth, Rose felt too thrilled and too full of ecstasy to care.

--

_A/N: I thought I'd never update!! Hope you liked this chapter, please leave your thoughts!! Why I chose this song among others? Because it's full with energy and an adrenaline too strong to explain, and that speaks of Rose quite well. =D Hope you like Queen! _

There's a poll on my homepage. Feel free to answer it!

--

Artist: Queen

Lyrics:

_When love breaks up__  
__When the dawn light wakes up__  
__A new life is born__  
__Somehow I have to make this final breakthru . . . _

_I wake up__  
__Feel just fine__  
__Your face__  
__Fills my mind__  
__I get religion quick__  
__'Cos you're looking divine__  
__Honey you're touching something, you're touchin' me__  
__I'm under your thumb, under your spell, can't you see ?_

_If I could only reach you__  
__If I could make you smile__  
__If I could only reach you__  
__That would really be a breakthru_

_Breakthru, these barriers of pain__  
__Breakthru, yeah, to the sunshine from the rain_

_Make my feelings known towards you__  
__Turn my heart inside and out for you now__  
__Somehow I have to make this final breakthru_

_Your smile__  
__Speaks books to me__  
__I break up__  
__With each and every one of your looks at me__  
__Honey you're starting something deep inside (of me)__  
__Honey you're sparking something, this fire in me__  
__I'm outta control, I wanna rush headlong into this ecstasy_

_If I could only reach you__  
__If I could make you smile__  
__If I could only reach you __  
__That would really be a breakthru__  
__If I could only reach you__  
__If I could make you smile__  
__If I could only reach you__  
__That would really be a breakthru__  
_


	10. Love and Some Verses

_A/N: Chapter 10 is up! I hope you like it. Again, a thousand thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I've read some very nice and fun reviews so far. Please don't forget to answer the poll that's on my profile. And as an answer to one of your questions: I'm not changing the identity of the writer according to your answers in the poll. I have that figured out since I begun writing this story. _

**Love and Some Verses**

--

During the month of December the students received a considerable amount of daily mail. Early Christmas presents, cards, letters and scarves arrived every morning at the Great Hall during breakfast.

That morning Rose was waiting for only one thing, a small package she had ordered at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes two days ago. An owl did land in front of her at the table, but she soon recognized that it was nothing more than a letter from her mum. She took the envelope and patiently opened it to read it.

_Dear Rose, _

_I hope you and your brother are well. It's been snowing almost every night around here, so I imagine Hogwarts is whiter than our backyard. Your dad and I hung the Christmas lights last Sunday. He had a little spare time this weekend and you know how he gets when he's worried about something...he distracts himself with small things like bringing Christmas to the house. _

_As an answer to the question you asked on your last letter: Dad's doing alright, but aside from this weekend I think I've barely seen him around the house. He spends most of his time at the Ministry with Harry and the rest of the Aurors. They're getting closer to the fugitives, so that's a good sign. Don't worry so much about him. He'll be just fine, really. _

_Your dad and I are really looking forward to have you both at home soon. _

_Love, _

_Mum. _

Rose folded the paper and put it back inside the envelope. She suppressed a sigh. She didn't quite believe her mother's calmness, and if the Aurors were getting closer to the fugitive's trail, then her mum was probably worried about her dad's safety.

"Any news back at home?" Albus asked her. Rose shook her head. "Not much..." she absently said.

Another owl landed in front of her, and this time she knew it was what she had been expecting. She untied the bag that hung from the bird's leg and opened the small note that came attached to it.

_Dear Rose, _

_Drops of Heaven, just like you ordered! You're lucky I could save you this bag, you know how these sell during the Holidays. I hope you enjoy them and don't eat them all at once! _

_I'll see you soon. _

_Lots of kisses, _

_Audrey_

Rose smiled and put the small bag away. She walked out of the Great Hall with Albus, and went straight to her morning classes.

When the afternoon arrived Rose felt rather anxious. She had agreed to meet Scorpius at what was now their spot by the lake. In spite of how much it had been snowing lately the day was rather warm for the season, and they both preferred to take advantage of that circumstance and meet at that private location.

When she got off Charms, her last class for the day, she walked out of the classroom at a fast pace, and as she began to cross the white fields she startled when the third owl of the day flew over her head, calling her attention. This time the bird had a single note hanging from its leg. Rose breathed in and took the small piece of parchment. She unfolded it slowly and spread it open.

_I think you fell from the sky _

Rose chuckled nervously. She looked up front, the owl was gone. She shook her head, and wondered just how much longer she was going to have to put up with that anonymous game. She reread the short note, and suddenly found that the handwriting was rather familiar. She had never felt a connection with any of the notes, especially because all the notes were written in different handwritings.

"You know, I'm getting sick and tired of this. No matter how much you think I deserve it. The very least you can do is talk to me." Rose jumped in surprise and turned around, putting the small note quickly inside her pocket.

"Patrick..." Rose murmured. She raised her chin, only a few inches and stared into his soft brown eyes. He was attentive, serious. Rose sighed. "You're right...I'm sorry. If you want to talk, then we can talk."

Patrick shook his head and took off to walk across the sunny grounds, Rose followed him closely. She pressed her Herbology book tightly against her chest. She bit her lip, and her eyes wondered towards him indiscreetly. She wanted him to talk first, mainly because there wasn't much for her to say.

"It's not...Rose, it's not just _talk_. You know that's not what I want. But you never even let me explain," he said, stopping in front of her.

"I know...listen Patrick...I was, awfully upset. I really just...I didn't want to listen to any of it." She looked towards the castle. "I didn't want to be lied to," her eyes travelled to look at him again. His face seemed ashamed. "What you did was...humiliating."

"I know..." he said. "But Rose, it's like I said. Heather provoked it, I didn't—I mean, I know I responded at first but only because she caught me off guard. I don't fancy her. And—Rose I'm an idiot. I'm a git, okay. I'm the biggest arse there is, alright?" he said, straight and somehow desperate.

"You're not—"

"I am! I'm a thick head, call me whatever you want...just as long as...you stop giving me this cold treatment, stop being so angry..."

Patrick took a step forward, daringly. Rose stood still. "Angry?" she murmured absently. She didn't even notice that he was placing his hand on her arm, caressing her sweetly.

"Yes, that's what I want the most. For you to stop hating me," he said, his voice bending in what sounded like pain. Rose frowned and looked at him.

"Hate you?" she whispered.

"Yes..." he used his free hand to caress the skin of her cheek.

"Patrick," she said, in realization. "I'm not angry. I don't hate you..."

Patrick's face changed, his lips smiled momentarily.

"Then...why are you being so proud?" he inquired. "Rose, I'm—come on I'm crazy about you. And what I said...I meant it. I'll do anything to make it up."

"Patrick...you don't get it," she glanced at him, and she could still feel his hands on her cheek and arm. "I'm not angry, I don't hate you, I'm not being proud...I just, Patrick I'm not anything," she said, raising her voice.

"What?" Patrick chuckled. "Rose you're not making any sense."

"I'm saying that..." she wrinkled her face. Suddenly she didn't feel like hurting him like that. "I don't feel anything." He didn't speak. "If I were angry or upset or even if I hated you, then maybe that would mean something. But I just don't. Patrick I'm past that, I don't hate you , but...I don't fancy you either. I just don't care," she concluded.

Patrick let go of her skin quickly, lowering his eyes. "Now I really am an idiot."

"I'm sorry."

"You could have just...said so before..."

"I didn't know. I just don't know when it happened, I can't remember where I stopped fancying you, but I did..."

"Does this have anything to do with that friend of yours?"

"Scorpius?" she asked. Patrick nodded. "Maybe, I don't know..."

"You're with him," he said. Rose shrugged, she wasn't planning on being straightforward about it, she hadn't even told her cousins, and she didn't think it was any of Patrick business. But to her own contradiction, she looked up and saw Scorpius walking alone, towards the frozen trees by the lake. She lost concentration.

"Patrick, I have to go. I'm..."

"You're sorry," he breathed in. "Yeah, you said so."

Rose nodded poorly. "I know it's a bit soon, but I'd just like for us to be friends..." she said, anticipating his reaction to her request. He snorted, a cold laugh leaving his throat.

"Friends? Rose—are you mocking me?" He retorted.

"No..." she sincerely said. He shook his head, looking rather insulted, as if she had just asked for the unthinkable. He turned around and left her standing there, waiting for a verbal answer. She saw him as he walked back to the castle and in a matter of seconds turned and walked towards the lonely trees.

She walked in to find Scorpius waiting for her, resting his back against the bark of one of the trees.

"Hey," he softly said.

She smiled, and she pushed back the long curls that covered her face. She threw her bag on the ground carefully, next to his. "Sorry I'm late."

"That's alright. You were busy," he smiled solemnly. Rose shook her head, letting out a nervous chuckle.

"That was just—it was only, um...well, it was...closure," she then said, frowning to her silly behaviour. Scorpius laughed softly.

"Is that so?" he said, smiling softly.

"Yes...it's good," Rose said. Scorpius grinned, sitting on the cold, even wet ground, resting his back against the same tree than before. Rose walked forward and sat next to him. "You should try it sometime, if you ever need to give closure to anything," she teased. Scorpius shook his head.

"So that's what you were doing? Giving closure."

Rose shrugged. "I just, hadn't realized that I never did. He thought we still had something going on. He thought I was ignoring him. And I just—never realized I simply didn't care anymore," she said.

Scorpius stared at her intently.

"One question..."

She swallowed. "Ask me..."

"One day you were with him, and the next day you weren't. What happened there?"

Rose smiled shyly, her lips and cheeks turning pink. She shook her head as she looked down at the ground. "I rather not say, It's...embarrassing."

Scorpius looked at her, as intimidating as ever. He didn't say a word, and during a moment he was so still that Rose thought he wasn't even breathing. She felt her cheeks turning red.

"He...I—caught him snogging some girl," she said, staring into the white, humid ground.

"Sounds like he's the one who should be embarrassed."

Rose looked up, and stared into his eyes. She smiled and chuckled afterwards.

"I guess..." she whispered, looking away. Her glance became fixated on the tranquil water of the lake. She felt herself breathing rather softly, knowing that his eyes were set on her, but she didn't mind being observed by him, just like she didn't mind being quiet, not like she normally did.

She didn't count the minutes, but it could have been ten, fifteen or even twenty before she spoke again.

"You're very quiet," he softly said, as she turned her head around to look at him again. Scorpius smiled.

"So are you. Is it the _closure_?"

Rose chuckled quietly and shook her head. "No, I have other things on my mind..."

Scorpius said nothing else, but he looked at her in a way that suggested he wanted to know what those things were.

She swallowed, and her chest filled with worry again. "It's my dad. I'm...a bit worried about him."

He went back to service for the Auror department," Scorpius stated. Rose raised her eyes at him in astonishment. She frowned.

"How do you know that...?"

"It was on the Prophet, Rose," he clarified then. "You're cousin, Ted Lupin writes the stories for the auror department, doesn't he?" Scorpius calmly said, deviating himself from the main subject.

"Oh...right...yes! He does...I forgot that the news were on the paper a few months ago," she said, shaking her head. "The thing is...I'm afraid for him."

"Isn't he like...really good? One of the best."

Rose smiled, giving him a small shrug. "That's what I've heard."

"What? You don't know?"

"I was very little when he worked for the Ministry of Magic. I...don't remember much of it, just that...he wasn't at home most of the time. Weekends...nights...some holidays even."

"I see..."

"I was six when he decided to retire. From what I know the Minister wasn't very happy, neither was my uncle Harry."

"Why did he retire?"

"The shop was having some financial problems. My uncle George owns –"

"Weasley Wizard's Wheezes. Of course I know it."

"Right. Well, he had just opened a third shop, and it became too much for him and his wife. Dad decided to join them. It was the family business, after all. It's a good thing he did. They have four shops now. You know...it was really strange, but I remember I was thrilled when it happened. I didn't understand much until I was older but I remember that he began to have dinner with us every night. He was there during weekends. He never missed one of my birthdays again, it was brilliant," she finished, feeling the soft smile that had formed on her face.

"Why are you so worried now?"

"I don't know...I'm afraid he might be...you know, rusty or something."

Scorpius laughed softly. "For what is worth I really doubt that's possible. Once an Auror, always an Auror."

"I suppose you're right..."

"He's very skilled, you're dad. He put a good deal of deatheaters in Azkaban."

"Yes, he did..."

"The Lestrange Brothers, for example."

Rose lifted her eyes. Rodolphus Lestrange had been married to Bellatrix Black, and that practically made him Scorpius' family. He had even mentioned him once.

"He...did put Rodolphus Lestrange in prison, yes."

"And took down Rabastan, his brother."

"What?" Rose asked. "He had a brother?"

Scorpius looked at her. "Well, yes...he's dead now, though," he pointed out. Rose felt an unexplainable chill traveling up her body.

"How do you know that? Not even I knew that."

"I just...I don't know...I must have read it when it happened, or heard it. I don't know."

"That's impossible, that must have been before we were born."

"Rose, I don't know...I must have—I don't know, it's not that big a deal," he quickly said, to Rose it sounded rather evasive, he seemed as uncomfortable as she had ever seen him. She remained silent. She was afraid of asking him what he meant by 'taking down'. She never enjoyed having to hear that her father, or any member of her family had killed people, even if they were Aurors, even if they had been in the middle of a war. But what made the subject worst was how foolish she felt for not even knowing the story. Scorpius knew it, probably because his family had been involved. But...just how much did he know? What other things did he have knowledge of?

"Do you even know when that happened?" she asked. Scorpius exhaled, somewhat annoyed.

"No," he said dryly. "I don't know anything else."

Rose stared at him, very unconvinced about his answer. He looked down, at the ground, then stared at her again.

"So...tell me more about the shop. Sounds like a pretty great place to work in," he said. Rose frowned. That was one quick way of getting out of the conversation.

"It is..." she said, hesitating. "Dad runs the business with my uncle George. But Dad takes care of the progress of each shop while George develops new products to bring to the market. Actually, there's a good deal of my family involved. For example, Uncle George's wife, Angelina, sees after the main shop."

"The one that's in Diagon Alley?"

"Yes!"

"The one he opened with his twin brother..." Scorpius said, but almost to himself. Rose stopped cold and so did he.

"Wait...how come you..."

"Everybody knows that..."

"No, they don't. Unless..."

"Unless what?" he reacted roughly. "Everybody knows the shop was created by twin brothers."

Rose frowned again. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable about how well he knew her family. She never felt she was _that_ famous. Albus, Lily and James, maybe, but not her...

"You were saying?" he quickly asked.

"Oh...right. I was saying that I have another aunt, Audrey, she's uncle Percy's wife, he's the third son in my dad's side of the family. He works for The Ministry of Magic but Audrey works with uncle George, developing new products. It's actually very ironical. You see, uncle Percy works for the security division of the Ministry. Basically, he makes sure that wizards are fulfilling the laws built to respect their security, and the shop's products are not always..._Ministry Friendly._"

Scorpius laughed, and Rose smiled.

"In spite of what Percy thinks, Audrey creates new lines for the shop. It's a really cool job. She's amazing with Potions, you know. You'd like her."

Scorpius' grin was soft, and as Rose held her smile for him, she realized she had been talking nonstop. She felt estranged of how much he knew about her, but she realized that she was giving him too much details.

"Speaking of the shop..." she evasively said. "I got you something."

"You did?" he asked, very amazed. Rose smiled devilishly, and bit her lip as she pulled a small brown bag out of her school bag.

"Chocolate," he immediately said. "I can smell it from here." Rose chuckled softly. "You're...unbelievable."

"Why?" she asked, acting innocently, while opening the bag.

"Because most girls give people they like things they actually fancy...you get me chocolate."

"Yes, well, good luck finding someone who likes you."

Scorpius stared at her intently for a moment. He smirked then. "Weasley, Weasley..." he murmured, shaking his head. "You're great for my pride."

Rose laughed softly. "Anyway...these are special."

"You always say that."

"But they are! Weasley Wizard Wheezes doesn't make sweets commonly, but these are...oh, they're so good."

"What's the trick?" Scorpius asked.

"The trick?"

"That shop doesn't sell sweets for the purpose of it. Those must have a side effect."

"They're not trick chocolates! Who do you take me for?"

Scorpius glanced at her, very suspiciously.

"These are _drops of heaven_. Audrey spent months working on these. She wanted them to be ready for Valentine's day. She´s not much of a fan of that Holiday, and she says it's an excuse for people to feel lousy about themselves when they don't have a couple. So these have a spell, and not only will you taste the irreplaceable sweetness of the chocolate, but for five seconds you will feel a comfortable, safe joy."

"That's mental," he said.

"I know...but they sold in less than a week last year."

Rose opened the bag and took out a very small chocolate drop, the size of a pea. She handed one to him and took one for herself.

"If you don't love these, then I'll give up."

Rose ignored how he shook his head, and took the drop to her mouth. After letting the chocolate melt in her mouth she savoured the best part, a wide spasm of happiness spread across her chest for only a few seconds. She smiled as she felt the effect wearing off.

When she looked at Scorpius again she saw he had already eaten his drop. His face became absent for a moment, and then he shook his head, reacting abruptly. Rose laughed.

"See? You love it already."

He shook his head, and didn't say anything back, but she could tell he was holding back a smile.

"Question..." he whispered. Rose waited. "Where does your obsession with chocolate come from?"

"Easy question. My dad," she smiled. "He adores it. He hides chocolate frogs under my pillow when I'm upset with him. You see...dad isn't very good with details. Sometimes he forgets things like bringing the groceries, or he buys everything except what mum asked him to bring." She stopped to chuckle softly. "Whenever I wanted him to stop at the library I had to write the title of the book on his forearm, with magic ink, so he wouldn't forget. But once...when I was little, he forgot my birthday. It wasn't his fault, he was very busy at that time. But...I was so angry at him. I mean, I was only five and I still remember how upset I was. When he finally made it home I didn't even want to look at him. I found chocolate frogs under my pillow for a whole week after that."

Scorpius laughed, and the sound of it made her come back from her flashback. "He says, he can't help screwing up now and then, but he works hard on making it up for me." She laughed softly, shaking her head. "He says silly things like that..."

"Sounds like, you really love him."

"I do...I really do," she said, looking at his eyes as she did so. Scorpius grinned, looking strangely pleased.

"Can I...have another one of those?" he asked softly. Rose smiled, handing him the bag. "For research, I mean. I want to know what's in it." She rolled her eyes at him. He grabbed one and placed it in his mouth. She couldn't help observing how slowly he ate it. "Right..." he absently said. "Another one, please..."

She frowned, and extended her arm so he could take a third drop. He closed his eyes, and breathed deeply, throwing his head back a few inches. Rose soon found out that watching him enjoy the drop was even sweeter than eating chocolate.

"Apricot seeds..." he said after a moment.

"What?"

"This has apricot seeds."

"You're joking...you can't possibly tell the ingredients apart. That's impossible."

"Is that a challenge?" He smirked. "I remember someone stealing my slug ointment to investigate its ingredients. Any luck with that?" he asked. Rose felt her cheeks flushing, burning within seconds.

"Shut up..." she said, lowering her eyes. She heard him laughing quietly. "So...Apricot seeds, huh?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Like in the Armotentia potion..."

"Oh...right," she said, frowning sheepishly, and taking another drop for herself.

"Another one, please," he said, extending his arm towards her. Rose raised her eyebrow, smiling softly.

"I think you've had enough," she told him.

"Just one more..." he insisted to her surprise. "I want to see what else is in that thing."

She laughed, mockingly. "Liar...you love them. Admit it."

"Just give me another one."

"Look at you begging," she teased. He rolled his eyes, losing his patience.

"Just—"

"No," she said, grabbing the bag tightly against her chest. "You have to take it easy with these or you'll eat the entire bag in a minute. Believe me, I know..."

"I'm not eating—just give me another—"

"No!" she laughed again. Scorpius exhaled impatiently and reached to take the bag away from her hands. She held the bag with a great amount of pressure. Scorpius stopped, his eyes sharp. With much easy, he reached for her instead. Rose complained and tried to escape his embrace, but his right arm trapped her quickly. Rose wrestled, but her fight was useless, and soon he was holding her tightly with both hands. Without lifting her much from the snow he turned her body around and embraced her, pressing her back against his chest. His arms might as well been made of steel, for she couldn't move a single inch.

"Let me go!" she complained, her voice stuck in a nervous laugh. She couldn't see his face, but sensed his proud smile. He said nothing for the next seconds. A noise of annoyance came out from her chest. "Fine...fine, just...let me go," she said with a small voice.

Scorpius removed the pressure from his right arm, and softly moved his left arm down to her waist, holding her firmly, but rather smoothly. Rose smiled to the feeling of his embrace and turned only her thorax around, where she could see his face but kept her position against him.

"You can't always get what you want...you know." she warned him, as she opened the bag again.

"Why not?" he whispered, staring into her eyes. She chuckled at his somewhat arrogant response.

"Because...you can't," she said plainly, as her hands took one drop of chocolate out of the bag. Her eyes though, remained still on his. "There are...rules...procedures...sometimes you even have to wait. You can't have it all when you want it," she said.

"The hell with procedures..." he challenged. Rose shook her head, and quickly ate the chocolate she had taken out for him. Scorpius gave her a glance so strong that her skin shivered. He held her waist tightly, as a warning sign. She chuckled.

"Fine..." she hastily said and took another drop out of the bag. He smiled, his mouth twisting into a smirk, reminding her how much she loved that look on his face. She withdrew a sigh, but felt so close to his mouth that instead of handing him the small piece of candy she reached with her hand directly for his lips, placing the drop closely to him. Scorpius parted his lips open, and she slipped the chocolate slowly in his mouth. Her heart raced its beating, her chest felt warm. He closed his mouth again, but her fingers caressed his lips slowly, drawing the lines of his mouth.

"This is...inappropriate," she whispered absently to him, her fingertips burning against his skin. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment.

"I'm not doing anything," he said, his expression suddenly changing from pleased to endearingly innocent. Rose chuckled, shaking her head.

"Yes you are...or, are you saying that it's just me, then?" she asked. Scorpius nodded slowly.

"And you should know better," he whispered. "Tempt not a desperate man," he then said, roughly, something that sent a shiver up her spine. Rose grinned, this time she couldn't restrain a soft laugh.

"Look at you, quoting Shakespeare...You don't hate it. You haven't even returned it to me. You're probably re-reading it..."

Scorpius smiled, and that was enough of an answer. "I'm giving that Romeo git a second chance."

"You're too hard on him, you know. He was in love, you can't blame him for that. But then again, you may not even know what that's like," she teased, as she took another piece of chocolate for herself. Scorpius stared at her momentarily.

"I happen to have a general idea, Weasley," he retorted. Rose's stomach flipped. She felt tempted of asking if he had been in love before, but she decided it was best to leave that in the dark. "What about you?" he asked. Her cheeks blushed instantly. He was probably referring to Patrick, or any other person from her past. She could easily answer _No_, she hadn't been in love with any of _them_, and it would have been an honest answer. But the past weeks taught her to feel differently. She couldn't just deny it, not when the simple word made her cheeks burn, along with her chest and stomach. She suddenly felt that...denying it would be like lying to herself.

Rose breathed in. "I think I do..." she said, biting her lips, staring into his grey, solemn eyes.

"And is it a tender thing?" he asked, smirking all of a sudden. Rose rolled her eyes, noticing that he was quoting Romeo again. "Because it's too rough, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorns."

She laughed. "Now you're just making fun of him, aren't you?" she said, shaking her head.

"No, I actually think it's a pretty great verse."

"Is that what _you_ think of love?" she frowned.

He smiled and reached slowly for the bag, and took yet another drop of heaven.

"Ashwinder eggs," he said softly, and quite evasively. Rose shook her head at the way he changed the subject, but mainly at his attempt of telling the ingredients apart. "It's in the Armotentia potion as well. You're aunt probably uses a very small amount of it."

Rose's jaw dropped, her eyes clinching. "You can´t—"

"—why don't you write her and ask?"

"How can you be so sure of yourself?"

"How can you trust me so little?" Scorpius asked as he smiled, shrugging softly. He leaned his head down a few inches, and his nose rubbed her cheek. Rose smiled at the feeling of his skin against hers, she breathed softly, shutting her eyes when the tip of his nose travelled delicately to her jaw line. She couldn't tell if it was the skin of his cheek or his warm lips pressing against her neck, but her skin shivered all the same.

"You're not so innocent yourself, you know that?" she whispered and heard him chuckle. He raised his face and looked at her. His eyes contemplated her expression as his right hand reached for the curl that hung down her face. She smiled softly, wondering if she should be the one to kiss him first. She didn't act on it, but she extended her fingers towards his cheek, and caressed the lines of his skin.

"Rose..." he whispered, so quietly that his voice didn't sound his. She swallowed nervously, but did notice that she felt more relaxed than before, and she could easily get used to spending afternoons with Scorpius by the lake, feeling his fingers running down her curls.

He leaned down again, to a point where his mouth felt close to her ear. But after savouring the prolonged silence, she parted her lips. "What?" she asked, almost begging. She could feel him breathing smoothly, close to her neck. "What where you...going to..."

Scorpius retrieved a few inches, and placed his hands under her jaw line, raising her face up to his, before he pressed his lips softly against hers. Rose gave into his embrace in less than a second, holding on to his waist.

When he separated himself from her, she felt her breathing running short. She opened her eyes slowly, somehow stunned. She couldn't help frowning, she wanted to ask him what he was going to say, but she didn't want him to know yet just how pushy she could be, although he probably already knew...

Rose breathed deeply. She wanted to hear him saying so many things...

She ran her fingertips across his lips, while contemplating his eyes, something that drew a pleased smile on his face. If only his mouth could say everything she was seeing on his grey eyes...

Was it too early to want that much from him? Not only was she urging for his attention, but she felt the need of being the centre of his thoughts. Was she being far too self-centred or was that what it felt like to be head over heels?

He kissed her thumb lightly, and as the blood of her body ran up to her head she felt desperate of knowing the thoughts that crossed his mind. Legilimency would have come in handy, if only she knew how to perform it.

She opened her mouth, but suddenly realized that not only was she urging for him to speak words of devotion towards her, but she was also feeling the need of saying them as well. She felt ridiculous, she didn't even know what to say, mainly because she had not figured out the boundaries of her feelings for him...if there were any boundaries at all.

"Question," she whispered, breaking the soft silence.

"Tough question?" he raised his eyebrow, Rose shook her head.

"Easy. What do you smell when you're close to the Armotentia potion?"

Scorpius widened his eyes in surprise. "Evil question..." he said.

"You have to answer," she smiled, with a devilish expression.

"Armotentia…" Scorpius whispered, his expression recalling something. Rose held another drop of chocolate close to her lips. She looked at him, expectantly.

"So…?" she encouraged. He smiled.

"Salty breeze," he answered. Rose frowned.

"What? Seriously? Salty breeze?" she asked, considerably disappointed.

"Breeze from the sea…"

"Oh…really? Why?" she said, suddenly interested.

"Have you ever been to the ocean?" Scorpius asked, caressing a curl of hers.

"Yes, one of my uncles lives by a shore. It's a beautiful place."

Scorpius smiled poorly, and glanced at the lake, like he did when a subject was getting too personal, or when he didn't know what to say. Rose bit her lower lip very softly, waiting for him to continue.

"My grandparents used to live by a shore as well. My mum's parent's that is."

She looked at him, careful not to interrupt. His glance left the lake and came back to her.

"They used to ask for me during the summer. I spent weeks there. I never wanted to leave. Leaving was...I just hated it." He looked down, at the cold ground. "There was something brilliant about living in that place...I could be whoever I wanted to be."

"But...it wasn't really the shore what you fancied, was it?"

Scorpius looked at her again, shaking his head. "No. It was my grandparents."

"What happened? Did they move?"

Scorpius shook his head. "She got sick and passed away three years ago. He followed, he died last year. He didn't do very well on his own."

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, he gave her a very small smile. "What happened to the house?"

"My mum and aunt inherited it, that's what happened," he resented.

"None of them wanted to live there?"

"No. My aunt was never attached to that house… and my mum… Well, she says she's a Malfoy… and apparently Malfoys have only one home: Malfoy Manor. So they sold it to split the inheritance. If only I had had the money to buy it."

"If my grandparents passed away, I don't think we could ever sell that house. It would be too painful. We all love that place too much."

"How would they decide who would live there? Don't you have like...twenty uncles all together?"

She chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Five blood related. They would figure something out. So...you were very close to your grandparents, weren't you?"

"Yes. He was one storyteller. Fun to be around. She was…a lot like my mum, but without the Malfoy brainwash."

"Don't you have any pictures?" Rose asked, he looked at her, then nodded.

"I think I have...one. It's very old, though. It's one of the few things I have left of them."

"Apart from the memories..." she dared to correct. Scorpius smiled.

"You're right...apart from the memories. I'll look for that picture," he said, leaning down to kiss the corner of her mouth. Rose shut her eyes.

"Hold on..." she interrupted, opening her eyes.

"What?" he asked, while he continued to leave short kisses on her skin.

"Nobody smells just _one_ thing with the Armotentia potion."

He exhaled, and leaned back. He stared at her, frowning slightly. "Nothing escapes you..."

She shrugged, innocently. "I'm just saying..." she mumbled, he chuckled.

"Leather globes..." he said. Rose didn't restrain the surprise of her face.

"What?" she laughed.

"I don't know...I love the smell of them..." he admitted, shyly. "It was the first Quidditch accessory I ever bought. I got my first pair even before I got my first broom. I can't describe how excited I was when I first wore them. I guess that's why I like how they smell..." he shrugged. Rose smiled warmly.

"That's cool..." she tenderly said. He nodded. She gave him a few minutes, but he said nothing else.

"And...?" she insisted. He smirked.

"And that's it."

"That's it? Just two things?" she wondered, highly disappointed. He nodded.

"What about you?" he asked, looking rather interested.

Rose smiled shyly, remembering the day she brewed the love potion with Scorpius. She bit her lip before speaking. "You know the smell of soil when it rains?"

"Sure..."

"Well, that...especially after a very hot day. When I was little and it was raining outside my mum would sit Hugo and I on the floor, right in front of the fireplace. She would read a book and we would drink hot chocolate and fight over the marshmallows."

Scorpius chuckled softly. She smiled. "If dad was at home, then we would take turns to play wizard chess with him," she told him, silencing after she was finished.

"And?" he inquired. She raised her eyebrow.

"And that's it..." she said. She wasn't planning on admitting that his perfume had overruled the smell of wood and wet soil.

"Right..." he said, very unconvinced.

She looked at him for a moment, and thought that maybe she should be the one to speak first. Maybe she should be the one to describe how her skin rose every time he touched her, or how her head fogged whenever he kissed her. But Scorpius leaned his head down with no hesitation, and kissed her deeply.

Maybe some other time...

--

The rest of the month ended too fast for Rose's liking. During the next weeks she couldn't help turning into the main conversation topic of her class. People she didn't know well stared at her in the halls, and some didn't even mind being indiscreet and whispering in front of her face. She hated that amount of attention, especially because she wasn't officially dating Scorpius, at least not to the eyes of her classmates.

She did spent a lot of time with him, but they never held hands in the hallway, or kissed in front of anybody. He didn't even sit by her during dinner. She had decided to take that relationship slowly, because she wasn't planning on putting up with her family yet, and she did notice that Scorpius wanted discretion just as much as she did...maybe even more.

She had never anticipated the Christmas Holidays with more regret. She didn't want to go home this year, she would have given anything to build an excuse strong enough for her to stay at Hogwarts with Scorpius. But she never told him of her idea, partly afraid that he would agree, and then she would have to trust herself alone with him.

The day of their return home arrived and Rose found herself struggling with the sense of emptiness that settled inside her chest. That very same day she realized that the writer hadn't sent her anymore notes, and it surprised her how little she missed it. Her mind had been pleasantly entertained with Scorpius.

During breakfast she began to feel uncomfortably anxious. She didn't know when she should say goodbye to him, she didn't want her family catching her snogging him or anything. She didn't even know if they would write to each other during the Holidays. Were they even _that_ kind of couple? She couldn't picture him writing a decent letter, for some reason. He barely ever gave her a compliment. Rose had learned to translate the text of his eyes into words. They way he looked at her, the way he contemplated her, the way he stared intently made her heart implode. But he never used words to express the fascination she saw on his eyes.

That little detail was beginning to bother her, for she felt inhibited to be the first to convert her own feelings into words. Maybe writing it down would be easier, she didn't know...

She didn't talk to him during breakfast, and she got on the train with Albus. They shared a cabin, sitting in front of each other. Albus was lying on the seat, staring at the ceiling, and Rose had her forehead against the glass, looking at the moving landscape.

"Shouldn't we be with our _special other_?"Albus asked, sarcasm flooding out of his mouth. She caught his bitter tone quickly and blinked.

"Probably..." she retorted. "Why aren't you with Annemarie?"

He was silent for a moment. "Honestly? Can't really stand her when she's with her friends..." he admitted.

"Why?" Rose frowned, sitting straight and looking at him. His eyes were set on the ceiling.

"She's different, completely different when she's with them. She gossips a lot, and bosses them around and...It's actually very ridiculous."

Rose's frown was deeper, she didn't want to say that the description she had just heard was the only impression she had of Annemarie. Rose didn't know there was another side to the girl.

"What's she like when she's alone with you?" she asked.

"For one she's natural. She's a better listener than you'd think. She's not all about herself, at least not always. She's sweet even..."

"Oh..." she softly said. Rose heard a knock on the door of the cabin. She turned her head around, and saw as Scorpius entered.

"Rose..." he said. Albus looked away from the ceiling and stared plainly at the visitor. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" Scorpius asked.

Rose stood up, nodding gently. She looked at Albus and saw that he was already standing up as well.

"Don't mind me, I'm leaving. I guess I'll look for Anne," he said with regret in his voice. He walked past Scorpius and left the cabin.

Scorpius closed the door, and tugged his hands inside his pockets. He walked to the centre of the cabin, where Rose was already standing.

"Happy?" he asked all of a sudden. She frowned. "You get to see your family," he explained.

"Oh...yes, I guess..." she answered with little enthusiasm. "And you?"

Scorpius chuckled, and shrugged. Rose remembered that the honest answer probably was _no_. He extended his right hand and took her face with it, raising her chin up a few inches. His eyes studied her, and Rose felt her chest filling with a mixture of excitement and despair. She wanted to at least tell him that she would miss him, that the following days where going to be awfully long for her.

She twisted her mouth to the thought of it.

"What?" he whispered. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing..."

Scorpius' thumb caressed her cheek gently. "Hey...can I ask you for something?" he asked.

"What?"

He leaned down, and grinned very softly. "Don't stand under any mistletoes..."

Rose chuckled and grinned widely. "No..." she whispered. "I won't." He killed off the remaining distance between them and kissed her so deeply that she barely had any time left to breathe before she could give into his embrace, like she always did.

When the train arrived at King's Cross Rose walked down with Scorpius. She quickly looked for her relatives but found that none of them had arrived yet. She saw that Scorpius was doing the same.

"Do both of your parents pick you up?" she asked him.

"No...My father drops me off, but my mum's the one who always comes for me," he said, rather relaxed.

He turned to her and smiled, while Rose forced a smile on her own face. "I guess this is it," she said through a sigh. He frowned.

"For now..." he whispered, roughly.

"Yes, for now," he said, her smile growing an inch. She parted her lips open. She wanted to kiss him, throw her arms around his neck, tell him how bad she would feel without him, all at once. But she did no such things, even when she could feel words getting stuck in her throat. She could feel herself close to saying something big, something important.

"Have a happy Christmas," he said softly, contemplating her face for the longest time. She breathed in.

"You too," she whispered sadly.

Scorpius turned around briefly, as if someone had called him. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment. "Brilliant..." he murmured. Rose glanced over his shoulder. A couple was standing far away, looking in their direction. The woman was not very tall, she was slim, and very pretty. Her hair, a dirty shade of blond fell on her shoulders. Her eyes were green, and her smile was very soft. She was holding the hand of a tall, brightly blond man. Contrary to his wife, Draco Malfoy's face was anything but soft. It was solemn, plain. He wasn't looking at his son from the distance, he was looking at Rose.

Scorpius exhaled strongly, rather uneven. "Listen, I have to go now," he said fast. "Take care, alright?" he said, looking at her eyes for one last time.

Rose nodded slowly, studying his suddenly nervous reaction. "Alright..."

"Bye," he whispered, with a half smile. Rose didn't return it, and he turned and walked towards the couple that was waiting for him.

Rose stood still, looking at him as he approached his parents, wondering why Draco wouldn't take his eyes off her.

"Rose!" Albus said from behind. "Your mum and dad are here..." he announced. Rose turned around, her face plain.

"Oh...right, okay..."

"Did you meet the parents?" Albus asked, somehow mockingly. Rose shook her head.

"No...and I don't think that would have pleased Scorpius at all..." she said, hearing resentment in her voice.

--

A/N: Weird ending? Yes, a little.

Why did I choose this song? Well, there are things that are very hard to say, especially the first time. Saying _I like your hair, I adore you smile, _or _I love you entirely_ seems simple but it's rather hard for some people, especially when you're trying to fool yourself into thinking that you're not in love yet. I wish it was easier for Rose to just say it out loud...but it isn't. I also like this song because it rambles a lot. And that's what we do when we fall in love and have no clue on how to express it. We ramble...quite a lot...

Don't forget to vote in the poll!

--

_Artist: Iron and Wine_

_--_

_Lyrics:_

_Love is a dress that you made_

_long to hide your knees_

_love to say this to your face,_

_"I'll love you only"_

_for your days and excitement,_

_what will you keep for to wear?_

_someday drawing you different,_

_may I be weaved in your hair?_

_Love and some verses you hear_

_say what you can't say_

_love to say this in your ear,_

_"I'll love you that way"_

_from your changing contentments,_

_what will you choose for to share?_

_someday drawing you different,_

_may I be weaved in your hair?_


	11. Shadow on the Wall

**Shadow on the Wall**

Rose's eyes stared outside the window, once again. She bit her lips, her forehead suddenly stamped against the glass. She breathed, slowly, the coldness trespassing to her skin. She sighed, making little blurs of fog against the frozen glass. She waited, for what seemed like hours until her heart stopped, the moment she saw a bird flying in the distance.

But she found disappointment when she realized that the thing that flew over her house wasn't an owl, just a regular unidentified bird. She blinked, somehow painfully. It had been four days, and she had not received anything from Scorpius, not even a little note. She bit her lips, even harder. She didn't expect to hear from him the first two days, but by now she had to admit it would have been nice to know something about him.

She breathed deeply, shutting her eyes tightly, wondering if this was what the holidays were going to be for her: an eternal waiting. She hated the fact. Holidays were supposed to be about relaxing, forgetting a little about school, and letting the days pass by gracefully. The anxiety she was beginning to feel was becoming ridiculous. She glanced at her bed, contemplating the unfolded pieces of paper that were lying on top of it. She reread all the notes she had received up to that date from her anonymous writer, trying to find Scorpius in at least one of them. But the more she read the less she thought that it was him the one who sent them. He couldn't be so bipolar, how could he sound so frightening at times, and so sweet at others? Whoever was sending them was trying to mess with her head, and she hated to think that Scorpius had reasons to do that with her.

Somebody knocked on the door. She startled and rushed herself to gather the pieces of parchment, ready to hide them. If it was her mum or her brother, she wasn't interested in explaining anything related to the writer.

_"Rose, honey, Albus is here,"_ she heard her mother say from the hallway. The characteristic steps of Hermione walked past Rose's room. She relaxed and waited for the door to open.

"Decent?" Albus asked.

"Decent enough," she teased, sitting on her bed. Albus walked inside, closing the door behind him. His eyes didn't wonder around the room, instead they went straight for the pieces of parchment that where on the bed. His green eyes became stern, and she immediately looked at the floor instead.

"What are you doing with those?" he asked, showing that he had no intentions of appearing patient. Rose shrugged, refusing to give him an actual answer.

"Rose," he said roughly. "You're not falling for this anonymous guy, are you? Because that would be stupid. That would be ridiculous, and stupid!"

"No! Cut it out with that already! Of course not!" she retorted. That's not why I keep them. Al, I have to find...I really need to know who this writer is. It's been months...and—"

He shook his head. "I guess you're not considering that it might be Scorpius..."

"I've never really considered him. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would write these things. And...Al, wouldn't he have said so by now?"

"Maybe he's embarrassed..." he suggested. She raised her eyebrow strictly.

"Well, what can I say Rose? I don't know how to interpret the twisted mind of your stalker."

"It's not a stalker..." she murmured, glancing at the note that was on her hand, the one that read _I think you fell from the sky. _She froze at that instant, and raised her eyes, to look at her cousin. "Al...what if...the guy who writes this...really is stalking me. How am I supposed to do something about it if I can't figure out who he is?"

Albus frowned, but before he could answer she heard how something crashed against her bedroom window. Her head turned, her heart already fighting to escape her chest. She withdrew her smile and ran towards the window.

The owl that was waiting for her was white, with very light grey feathers, and brownish small eyes. She smiled. She opened the window carefully and took the parchment that was hanging from its paw, and felt instantly disappointed. The parchment was too small, it couldn't possibly be a letter. It was a note. She unfolded it and bit her lips as she read it.

"What is it?" Albus asked.

"Nothing...just—" she sighed, acknowledging that there was no point in hiding it. She swallowed softly, breathed in. "_I know that you'll find love, I will posses your heart_" she read, through a soft whisper.

"That's it!" Albus said loudly, his face turning stern within a few seconds. "...This guy...whoever he is, he has to stop!" he reproached.

Rose's heart began to beat desperately. A sudden fear invaded her chest. She swallowed hard.

"You know...the writer's recycling the handwritings," she pointed out. "He's repeating them in some notes."

Albus shrugged. "He's running out of hands to help him."

Rose blinked and looked at her cousin. The last statement had echoed in her head. "Do you think he's doing this...with somebody else?"

"Rose, I don't know, I only said that because—"

"What if you're right? What if this is somebody trying to mess with me? Trying to play a really awful joke or something? What if he's just trying to get me to do something? I mean...all this effort? Wouldn't it be...with a very specific purpose?"

Albus stared intently. He walked up to her, and stood still in front of the bed, where she was sitting at. "What kind of purpose?"

"I don't know..." she murmured. "But...Al...you should have seen the way Draco Malfoy was staring at me when he picked Scorpius at the train station. It wasn't normal."

"Rose...not that I don't like that you're finally gaining some sense with this stalker of yours...but you're starting to accuse your boyfriend and that's—"

"Scorpius isn't my boyfriend," she stated dryly, somewhat painfully. Albus frowned.

"He's not?"

"I don't know," she sighed, staring at the window once again, resenting that he hadn't written to her, and that even her anonymous writer had remembered that she existed.

She rolled her eyes. That had been a really stupid thing to think, especially now that she was beginning to suspect of Scorpius. If it really was him then what was he playing at? What was he trying to do with her? With her head? The notes weren't at all romantic, even when some were sweet they all had a dark sense of possession that she didn't like, no matter how attracted she felt towards the lines.

She suddenly felt that she needed to confront him, ask him about the notes, and observe the look on his face. But, what would happen if he said yes? What if he really was the writer? In that case, he would have spent the last eight months, or more, tormenting her, messing with her mind, pretending to be an intrinsic guy when all he was really doing was...seducing her into a rather abnormal relationship.

And what for? The writer was patient, strategic, he was sending her signs that would have to turn into something bigger someday. And what would that be? She would probably never know unless she looked for the answer herself.

"Al..."she said, her own voice breaking. "If the Malfoys had...a reason, let's say a great reason to...hate us. Don't you think they would try to get back at us? I mean, as a family?"

Albus frowned, harshly, but soon his face relaxed, and with a sigh he nodded. "I guess they would. I don't know the entire story, but our families were pretty much rivals during the war.

"Your dad put Lucius Malfoy in prison," she murmured. "And hunted Draco Malfoy down for years."

"Mine, not yours. Wouldn't they be writing to Lily instead of you?...if that's what you're trying to say here..."

Rose's heart skipped a beat. She breathed in, with slight pain involved in the process. She remembered Scorpius and Lily talking and laughing together, her skin shivered at the memory.

"Who says he isn't trying to win her too?" she whispered vaguely. She frowned, she was beginning to hate herself for putting Scorpius in that scenario, and she wished, with all the strength her heart allowed her, to be ridiculously wrong. She wished to be making the worst accusation of her life.

"Listen, you're starting to scare me. Rose, that's mental, that's sick, that's..." He stopped talking, staring at the parchments that lied on the bed for a long, wide, muted second. "I can't believe I'm saying this but...that's actually a possibility."

She closed her eyes briefly, and sighed involuntarily, the sound left her throat like a painful gasp, and Albus' eyes fixated on her immediately. He cleared his throat, somewhat uncomfortable, and walked up to her, to sit on the bed, close to her.

"Lily's been writing to some bloke...she won't say who he is, though," Albus murmured. Rose looked up at her cousin silently, words sinking in her throat.

"Don't..."he breathed in. She didn't want to look at him directly. "Don't worry, this is probably all a misunderstanding," he suddenly assured. Rose rolled her eyes, and she could feel how mortified her face must have looked, in spite of her efforts on being strong about it. "Besides, Rose. You've said that Scorpius doesn't get along with his own family."

"Well...that's what he says to me..." she whispered.

"Oh..." Albus murmured, she could tell he was controlling the surprise on his tone. "Alright...let's say it's him," he began. She blinked. "Hypothetically...if it is him, then what does he want? What does his family want to get back at us for?"

"Maybe it's something we did, something our parents did. Al, I don't know, they barely talk to us about the war, and when they do...they don't tell the entire story. I'm sure of that."

"Well, then, we'll find out for ourselves. I'll help you," he then said, placing his warm hand above hers. Rose smiled weakly, feeling grateful for his attempt to be supportive instead of protective. "Wait. You said something about the handwriting. What about Scorpius'? You've been helping him with Muggle Studies, haven't you seen his handwriting?" he asked. Rose stopped to think, trying to recall the moments she helped him with his essays, but not once did she remember his handwriting. As a matter of fact, she couldn't recall seeing him write anything down, except during class.

And not once had she kept anything written by him.

"I can't remember..." she whispered."I think he's been very careful about that. I never even saw his final book essay."

"Well...you're going to have to open your eyes more now..."

Rose shook her head quickly, she was beginning to feel short of breath. "Al...I really, really, really want to be wrong about this," she softly said.

He chuckled spontaneously, fixing is glasses briefly. "See...this is why I didn't want you to fall for the bloke."

Rose was about to throw a retort, tell him that she wasn't falling for him. She wasn't going to admit anything if the guy didn't even write her two miserable lines to tell her that he was alive, but a knock interrupted what was about to be a very eloquent response.

"_Rose...you...have a visitor," _her mother said. Rose frowned in amazement. She quickly looked at her cousin, and shook her head. Her heart began to beat desperately, reminding her of how alive she was. She instinctively gathered the pieces of parchment and placed them in a small box that was on the nightstand, stood up and walked towards the door.

When she opened her door she found her mother standing beside it, a soft, but very estranged expression written on her face.

"Who is it?"

"It's...well, it's Scorpius Malfoy," she said, taking a deep breath afterwards. Rose stopped breathing. She looked at the floor, away from her mother's eyes, but she knew that her corporal expression was too obvious.

"Thanks...I'll just—" she gestured with her hands and turned to walk down the stairs. As she did so she felt her mum's eyes upon her, but she also felt her cousin walking closely behind. Now that he suspected of Scorpius too, he was probably going to become some sort of shadow around him.

She reached the end of the stairs rather quickly, and breathed in when she saw him standing in the middle of the living room, his hands stuck tightly inside his pockets. He raised his eyes when he heard her coming down, and twisted his lips to form a smile.

"Hi..." she said softly, walking up to him. Scorpius' smile changed with her approach, turning into a soft, but very pleased grin.

"Hey," he murmured, grey eyes fixed on her, while his hand travelled to slowly caress the skin on one side of her face. Rose smiled pleasantly, the last fifteen minutes with

Albus, and the last four days might as well have not happened at all.

She blinked, remembering about Albus. When she turned around she saw him standing by the stairway, looking in their direction.

"How's it going Potter?" Scorpius inquired, and Albus nodded politely.

"Can't complain," he said plainly, shrugging with the answer. Rose exhaled, entering a very uncomfortable zone. She wasn't planning on waiting for her mother and her brother to make an appearance, and in the worst scenario: her dad to return. But even when the last possibility was very unlikely to happen, since her dad entered a new mission three days ago, she wasn't going to wait for him to arrive and turn that afternoon in the most uncomfortable of her life.

"Come on, let's go outside," she said to Scorpius, looking at Albus' plain face for a few seconds. She raised her eyebrow towards her cousin, warning him to stay where he was. She reached for her coat and scarf fast and then instinctively took Scorpius' hand, feeling a rush to the head when he tightened the grip in return, and walked out of her house.

They paced slowly down the small and quiet street that led through her neighbourhood, hearing each other's careful steps on the pavement. The night was cold, and she tugged her naked hand inside the pocket of her coat. She didn't move her other hand, though, it was too comfortable, wrapped under Scorpius' grip.

"There's a park around the corner," she whispered as she looked up at him, contemplating his soft, discreet smile.

"Your mother is really nice," he pointed out randomly. "Very polite."

She chuckled, biting her bottom lip. "She is..."

"She offered me...water, coffee, tea, butterbeer, biscuits, pumpkin juice, everything that was on your fridge, I think..." he said, smirking out of nowhere. Rose laughed out loud, as they entered the small and lonely park. "She might have said Firewhiskey as well, I'm not sure..."

"You caught her off guard," she explained sweetly, pulling him towards a bench.

"I did?" he asked, acting innocent about it.

"Yes! What was the expression on her face when she saw you?" Rose asked.

This time it was Scorpius the one who laughed, looking pleased. "It was...interesting to look at..." he teased.

"Tell me!"

He grinned. "Well, she gasped when she opened the door, and then just...stared at me for a while..."

"Oh god..." Rose said, shutting her eyes tightly. He chuckled.

"I introduced myself, but I don't think it was necessary."

"You are very evil, you know that? You just showed up, and you didn't even let me prepare her."

He chuckled, shaking his head. Rose sat down on the cold bench, Scorpius followed."Your other boyfriends never visited you before?" he asked sharply. Rose raised her eyebrow, but her heart stopped unexplainably at the sound of the word _boyfriend_.

"Yes, but they all let me know when they were coming..."

"_All?" _he asked, frowning slightly. Rose smiled evilly.

"Yes..." she teased. His face became lightly stern, something she enjoyed thoroughly. "And have you always shown up unannounced at your girlfriends' houses before?"

He laughed quietly, roughly even. He shook his head, caressing her jaw line softly.

"And the fact that I am who I am doesn't have anything to do with your mother's reaction?" he asked, changing the subject.

Rose's smile faded. "It does..." she admitted."But I don't think you have to worry about my mum. My dad, though..."

"I figured he would be at work, or at the Ministry, I don't know..."

"Oh...that's smart..." she murmured. He was in fact right. Ron wasn't at any of the shops, he was dedicated to the capture of the fugitives, and he had barely stepped inside their house during the past four days. She thought of a way to change the subject, she didn't want to talk about her dad of the mission or anything related to that matter.

"You know...you caught me off guard too..." she said softly, running her fingers over his hand, which rested above his knee.

"I needed too see you," he declared. He leaned down slowly, and her heart swelled, hurting her chest. His lips, winter cold, caressed her cheek, making her skin shiver. A soft gasp left her throat. She suppressed the need of telling him that there were other ways of knowing about her sake, but she was too thrilled with his presence. Maybe he wasn't the writing type, which worked perfectly in her favour at that moment, since that small detail threw him far away from the writer's profile.

She smiled shamelessly, and that small gesture led him on, and urged him to move his mouth close, until it was only an inch away from hers.

"Stop teasing..." she dared him. He chuckled, and her demand turned his face into the one of an amazed man. But he did follow her orders, and kissed her deeply.

The feeling of their cold lips, brushing against each other, consumed her quickly. She embraced him tightly, one hand set behind his neck, while the other one played with his hair, something that urged him to take her waist with both hands, so tightly that it sent a powerful shiver up her spine. He leaned forward, to hold her with even more firmness, and she felt how her skin bend to his will, the only thing she could control at that moment was the intensity of her lips and the strength she was using to wrap her arms around his neck.

His hands finally changed their position. He freed her waist, loosening the grip that pushed her body against his, and ran his fingers up her back, softly through her arms, and finally settled on each side of her face. She sighed nervously, and opened her eyes when his lips separated from hers. She contemplated how his eyes continued to be tightly closed.

"Rose..." he said, taking a deep breath, that showed how hard he was struggling with the task of breaking their embrace."I also needed to talk to you."

Rose stopped cold, frowning harshly. Scorpius breathed in, and pressed his forehead against hers.

"That's not good..." she suddenly said. Scorpius took her chin with his hand, softly, and raised her eyes. She stared into his glance for a moment.

"Why?" he inquired.

"Because it sounds like something I'm going to hate..." she said plainly. He exhaled, but pressed his lips against her cheek. He cleared his throat.

"It's probably not what you think..." he said softly, kissing the corner of her lips. He breathed in, very deeply and kissed her again shortly. "But I'd rather kiss you instead," he quietly said. Rose bit her lip, shaking her head.

"You were saying..." she cut him. He nodded solemnly, while lowering his glance. Something he rarely did. He moved one hand away from her face and held her free hand with it. Their fingers interlaced perfectly.

"Rose, I...I've done things that I'm not proud of," he said, still not looking at her directly. Rose's stomach twirled unpleasantly, as if a storm was forming quickly inside of her. "Some things were silly, stupid, others...not good at all," he finished. Rose frowned. Scorpius rubbed slowly the skin of her lips with his thumb. He suddenly chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I'm not saying this to scare you off," he said. "But I...have to...be honest with you."

"I'm listening," she whispered, and the string of voice broke inevitably. Her first thought had been childish, of him breaking up with her. Her second thought had been obvious, of him admitting that he was the writer. But now, she was only afraid that he wasn't referring to any of those things, now it seemed like he was talking about something graver.

Scorpius finale stared at her, intently, and his index finger travelled down the tip of her nose, and over her lips, drawing the lines that defined them. Rose breathed in, sensing his cologne, adoring it, something that calmed the nerves that were eating her up.

"Look...I—" he begun, but her eyes drove elsewhere. She spotted a small silver dot in the distance, falling from the sky. The dot travelled fast and soon it reached the street where she lived in. From their distance she could see that the dot transformed into a shinny, silver figure, a very prominent stag.

She gasped dryly. The stag galloped across the street, straight into her house, through a window. "My uncle Harry..." she weakly said. "That's his Patronus," she explained. "My dad!" she suddenly exclaimed as she stood up. Scorpius did the same.

"Come on, let's go," he told her. Rose walked ahead of him, the short path back to her house became so endless that she rushed herself by running up to the door. She burst inside her living room, and found her mum, Hugo and Albus all staring blankly at the centre of the room, where the silver stag was dissolving, first turning into a cloud, then disappearing in the thin air.

Hermione was panting, but within seconds she breathed deeply, shut her eyes briefly and sat down on the sofa.

"What happened?" Rose asked, standing still next to the door. Hugo turned to her.

"Dad's hurt," he said.

"What?"

"Uncle Ron got hurt in the mission," Albus intervened. "The Patronus said that he was injured in a duel."

"But—"

"But he's alright," Hermione cleared out, rubbing her palm against her forehead. She sighed strongly. "I don't know where they are but Harry said they'll be home soon."

"Oh," Rose said, highly relieved. "Thank God." She walked up to the sofa, where her mum was sitting at. She looked at her brother, standing close to the fireplace, his expression was the one of a very scared kid, but he was doing his best to demonstrate calmness. She felt bad for him, Hugo had never experienced having to worry about his father's sake before. He was very little when Ron retired from the Auror department. She turned around and glanced at Albus. His expression was solemn. He was used to that kind of emotion, for he still had to confront it with Harry all the time.

"What else did the Patronus say?" Rose asked. There was a long silence in the living room, one that Rose began to despise. "Well?" she insisted.

"Dad caught the guy..." Hugo said, with a small, but proud cheer in his voice. Hermione looked up at her son, but said nothing. "The Patronus said he's dead."

"Hugo!" Hermione reproached sternly.

"Well...he is," Hugo shrugged.

"And who was it?" Rose asked.

At the very same time Albus and Hermione looked at Rose. She frowned, and then she saw that they had turned their heads, and were glancing at Scorpius, who had been standing prudently by the door, trying to seem unnoticed.

"Rodolphus Lestrange," Hermione said solemnly, her eyes still on Scorpius. Rose looked at him quickly, his eyes first showed astonishment, but then looked down at the floor.

Rose walked up to him. "Scorpius, I—I'm..."

"I um, I better go. I shouldn't be here right now, it's—Mrs. Weasley," he said, looking away from Rose and at the sofa Hermione was sitting in. "I'm really sorry about your husband, but I'm sure he'll heal soon."

"Thank you Scorpius," Hermione answered, smiling weakly.

"Good night," he said as he walked outside in two quick steps. Rose walked behind him, and waited for him to turn around. When he did so, he didn't look at her directly.

"Scorpius. I—I don't know what to say, I mean, he was—"

"It's fine," he said dryly. "It doesn't matter." Scorpius glanced at the house on his right, instead of her eyes.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter. Of course it does, he was your uncle."

"I never met the guy in my life, Rose. It doesn't matter," he insisted, somewhat rudely this time. "And he was my late aunt's husband, not my uncle. So, it simply doesn't matter," he repeated. But the more he repeated it, the more upset he seemed to Rose.

"Fine...if you say so," she whispered, shrugging slightly.

Scorpius breathed in and exhaled strongly. He placed the back of his hand on her cheek softly. "Are you alright?" he asked her. Rose nodded. "Your father will be fine, your uncle wouldn't have said so otherwise, right?" he said. Rose smiled.

"Right..."

He smiled softly as well, and kissed her lips briefly. "I'll see you after the holidays," he pointed out.

"Do you really have to go now?" she asked him. He smiled and placed his hands on both sides of her face. He looked at her for a while, before saying anything else.

"I have to. You and your family need the privacy."

She sighed. "But, you needed to tell me something," she remembered. He shook his head.

"It can wait."

"But..."

"It wasn't important, Rose," he said, biting his lips for a moment. Rose stared at his deep, grey eyes. She wanted to believe him.

She exhaled, rather upset. "Whatever..."

"If you need anything, let me know, okay?"

"Thanks, but we'll be fine. I'll see you at school."

"I—" he begun, but cut himself halfway. He smiled poorly. "I can't wait."

Rose shook her head, shutting her eyes for a brief moment. Without thinking much she gripped his coat tightly, a mixture of emotions had settled in her stomach; the fear the accident of her dad produced her, the uncertainty Scorpius' attitude provoked her, and finally the thrill it was the simple fact of having him in front of her, inches away from her lips.

"Sometimes I wish you were more eloquent," she told him. Scorpius chuckled, and shook his head. He leaned down and demanded a kiss so deep, that it made her feel foolish for her last request. She was good with the talking, but he was great at the kissing.

Once again he held her so tightly she could barely move, her fingers were still griping his coat. She would have never stopped, if it hadn't been for the new worries that were invading her mind.

"How are you going to get back home?" she asked the moment she was able to breathe again.

"I'll apparate," he explained simply.

"You can't apparate. You are not seventeen yet, and we haven't even taken the final test, that's not until the end of the school year."

He grinned, widely. "I have my ways." He kissed her shortly again, and then walked back, his face resentful for letting her go. She rolled her eyes, but smiled at him. "I'll see you at Hogwarts," he sentenced.

"Wait, Scorpius. I just realized. How did you know where I lived?" Rose asked. Scorpius smiled again, softly.

"I have—"

"You have your ways..." she interrupted."I get it."

She walked inside her house again, and as she took her coat and scarf off she could feel her smile wearing off her face. Not much had changed since her absence. Her mother was still sitting on the sofa and Albus and Hugo wondered around the room.

"Mum..." Rose said as she walked up to her. "Are you alright? Do you need anything? I can make tea if you want."

"No, I'm fine, sweetheart, thank you," she said, before she took her hands to her face. "Harry should have told me where they were," she reproached.

Rose sat by her mother. "Why would he sent a Patronus if they were on their way?" she asked.

"Harry knows me. He wasn't going to show up here with Ron injured without telling me about it first. And he was probably making sure he told us himself, in case the news leaked from the Ministry, and we received the information wrong, or worst than it actually was. But he should have told me where they were!" she insisted, shutting her eyes in sudden despair.

"I'll go make that tea," Albus said quietly. Rose nodded.

"Mum," Rose murmured, caressing her mother's curls carefully. "Dad's going to be fine."

"I know," she smiled. "It's not that. It's...I forgot what this was like, that's all. Having to wait for him," she sighed. "This uncertainty...I never missed this at all."

Rose sat quietly, until she heard a loud noise coming from the front door. She turned around with her hopes high, and felt relieved when she saw her uncle Harry entering the living room, helping an injured Ron enter the room as well.

Hermione jumped off the sofa, and practically ran towards the two men.

"'m fine, 'm fine..." murmured Ron weakly, Rose noticed that he could barely pronounce the words. At that moment, Albus walked out of the kitchen fast and helped Harry as he placed Ron on the sofa.

"He received a curse in his right leg and his shoulder," Harry pointed out. Efrain healed him momentarily, but I came straight here because I know you can do better than any healer at St. Mungu's. He was stunned afterwards, so...he probably won't make much sense during the next hours."

Hermione's eyes widened. "What happened?" she asked horrified, while she examined Ron's right leg first.

We tracked Rodolphus down. We followed him to what seemed to be a hiding place. We and separated, and Ron found him first, they duelled and...well, Rodolphus didn't make it, but he did injure Ron."

"Dad killed him?" Rose asked. "Rodolphus?"

Harry turned and looked at her. "I wasn't there, but I'm sure he had no other choice."

There was a long, paused silence in the room. The only person who moved at all was Hermione, as she took care of Ron's injures.

"I'll...go see if that tea's ready..." Rose murmured weakly as she exited the living room.

That night went by slowly. Before Harry left he and Albus helped to move Ron towards his room, where Hermione spent the night taking care of him. The wounds weren't deep, but the spells that had caused them made them hard to close. Hugo kept his mother company, but didn't resist past midnight, and Rose assisted as much as she could but at two in the morning Hermione sent her to her room. Rose obeyed, but her eyes didn´t close until the sun went up.

She had brief dreams during her time of sleep, about Scorpius visiting her, and Ron surprising them, something that unleashed a reaction of screams from his father that always made her wake up.

The next day Ron received visits from almost every member of the family. To Rose's surprise he didn't tell the story of his accomplishment over and over like she thought he would. He remained quiet about it, and when George asked to know the details he told him that he would talk about it later. Rose hated the fact, that at her age of sixteen, her parents still avoided to treat subjects like that in front of her. She wasn't a little girl anymore, for Merlin's sake.

She didn´t consider asking her dad about the Lestranges, to know more details of their relation with the Malfoys because she knew he would end up wanting to know the reason of her interest.

By midday her uncles Harry and Ginny visited her house with her three cousins. But Harry went straight to Ron's room, where the four grownups locked themselves.

"What's with them and all the secrecy?" Lily asked, filled with annoyance. The five cousins waited in the living room. Albus and Rose sat on the sofa, close to each other, while James searched for something to read among Ron's Quidditch magazines.

Hugo sat on the floor lazily, building small figures with pieces of parchment, and Lily walked around the room, looking for something to do. She soon found in Rose's hair a source of entertainment. She sat on the arm of the sofa and concentrated on braiding Rose's curls carefully. Rose glanced at Albus quickly, and the boy took the hint rather fast.

"Hey Lils," he said. "Are you going to tell me now who's the bloke you've been writing to?"

Lily stopped cold for a moment, but retook the activity fast. "No one," she said, raising her eyebrow sternly.

"You're seeing someone?" Rose asked then, pretending to sound innocent about the subject.

"No," she quickly answered. "It's just a friend," she said, glancing suspiciously at James, who was on the other side of the room.

"Better be..." James said, turning over the pages of the magazine he had selected.

"You know...I'll have a boyfriend someday, James. And there's nothing you'll do to stop me, then," she dared, her eyebrows frowned deeply.

James grinned, without glancing at his sister. "We'll see about that."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm done," she smiled at Rose's new look. Lily loved to see Rose's hair fixed properly, instead of having her long curls running freely down her shoulders.

"Anybody up for Quidditch?" she then asked, but none of them answered. Lily twisted her mouth, stood up and walked to the spot by the fireplace, where Hugo was sitting at. She joined him in the origami making.

"Did you find out anything new last night?" Albus asked Rose quietly. She shook her head.

"No...but Scorpius came here to tell me something," she said. "But didn't get a chance."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know. But...I have a really bad feeling."

"I think you're starting to take this Scorpius supposition too seriously."

"I don't think so Al, you saw the way he reacted when he heard about Rodolphus Lestrange."

"I did..." Albus agreed, silencing for a moment. "You know, I was thinking...maybe you should begin by finding out more about what happened between our families."

"How am I supposed to do that? Our parents rate everything they tell us."

"No...not through our parents. You're forgetting we have a cousin with plenty of access to information," he said brightly.

"Teddy? At the Prophet? Do you really think so?"

"Of course! Think of all the archives that newspaper must handle, and Teddy has access to all that. And he told me this year he had to work during the Holidays."

"That's brilliant Al!" she said with a smile." Teddy Lupin had been one of the top investigative journalists of the Daily Prophet for years, and that alone gave him enough power to help her find the kind of information she was looking for. Maybe, he could help her be more specific, maybe he knew more about their family's rivalry. "Do you suppose he's at the Prophet today?"

"I don't know, but can't you wait until tomorrow?"

"Of course not," she retorted.

"Teddy, I kind of need a favour," Rose said, when she was standing in front of Ted Lupin. Her cousin was sitting on the corner of his own desk, wearing a pair of black jeans, a blue, long sleeve shirt rolled up to his elbows, a blue tone in his hair and the same radiant smile he wore whenever she came over to visit him. His eyes, though, were a light tone of brown. Unlike his hair, which changed according to his will, he never used his metamorphic abilities to change his eye colour.

She took a fast glance at his desk, which was covered in newspapers, parchments, a couple of books and about five quills. Teddy was, by far, her favourite role model, and she would never stop saying that he was the handsomest journalist in England.

"You see...when you told me you were coming over, I though you wanted me to take you out for ice-cream or something."

"Shut up! I'm not eight!" she slapped his shoulder. He smiled again.

"Rose," he said, running his fingers across his messed hair. "I can't unless it's really quick. I have to make a deadline tonight."

She twisted her mouth, and her eyes fell down. He shook his head and stood up, to walk behind his desk.

"Come on Teddy," Rose said softly, walking right behind him.

He stopped, and turned around, smiling widely. "Don't do that! Don't use that voice!" he threatened. "And wear that face off..."

"What voice?" she asked, rather innocently.

"The five year old voice! The one that makes you get what you want from me!"

Rose smiled. "You'll help me, won't you?"

"I shouldn't..." he warned. "You sound like you want a lot."

"Teddy..." she said, reusing her soft, small voice. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"You're terrible. You know how much I love you and you use it against me. Fine, what do you need me for?"

Rose grinned gratefully. "It's a little thing. All I need is to do some research."

"I figured. Who do you need to look up?" he asked, straightforward. Rose blushed, beginning to feel guilty about what she was about to do. She waited for a moment to answer, feeling tempted to drop the entire plan. She breathed in.

"The Malfoy family. I need as much information as possible."

"What?" Teddy inquired, quite stunned. "The Malfoys?"

"I know. It's crazy," she chuckled nervously.

"Only a bit. But investigating is my thing! Alright!" he said, enthusiastically, rubbing his palms together. "What do you need to know about the Malfoys?"

Rose looked up at him, sighing. "Teddy...I'm pretty much lost...I don't know what I'm looking for." He frowned, his expression confused by her vague response. She looked at the floor for a moment. "Do you know who Scorpius is?" she then murmured, she hated how obvious she was being.

"Yes, I know him," Teddy said, crossing his arms.

"Then..." she hesitated.

"So, what's the deal? Are you dating this guy?" he asked, walking forward a foot. Rose frowned.

"Oh, stop that!" she scolded. Teddy laughed gently.

"Well, how long have you been dating him? Does Uncle Ron know? Does Uncle Harry know?"

"_Do not _interview me. I'm not a story." He laughed again, shaking his head.

"But...it's very recent and...nobody except Albus knows." He nodded repeatedly. She continued "Well, now I think mum knows. But, still, I kind of need you to..."

"Shut my trap"

Rose laughed spontaneously. "Yes!"

Teddy smiled and gave her a quick nod that told her to follow him out of his office and down the aisle. Due to the time of year and late hour of the evening, the place was rather empty. The Reporters and editors that were on guard worked distractedly, receiving the owls that flew inside with notes on their peaks.

"So,Teddy, how much do you know of the Malfoys?"

He looked at her suspiciously. "The real question is, what do you need to look your boyfriend up for?" he asked. Rose looked away, and he led her to the end of the room and opened a door, allowing her to walk in first.

"Mike!" Teddy saluted, grinning widely. A mid-age man sat in a chair, yawning at a magazine. "Need to take a look at the archives."

The man looked over his glasses and glanced at Rose from head to toes. "Who's the friend, Ted?"

"Family...she's just dropping to say hi."

The man raised his eyebrow, but shrugged uninterested. He stood up and flicked his wand against the big door that was behind him. The gate opened and he gestured to Teddy so he could cross it. "As long as she's not from another paper...you know how the boss can get..."

"I know...I know..." Teddy answered. Rose walked in first. Teddy followed. The room was wide, slightly dark. The ceiling was very tall and great shelves were piled, one on top of the other. She couldn't see were the rows ended.

"Here we are," Teddy said. "Where do you want to begin?" Rose frowned. "Go ahead, pick a date."

"Oh...I guess, I don't know. The year the war ended, I supposed." Teddy twisted his mouth.

"I was afraid that you might say that," he said, shaking his head. "I'll give it a go." He drew his wand out of his pocket and walked down the aisle. He stood in front of a shelf, and tapped the furniture three times. "Nineteen ninety seven," he said clearly. A strong light fell upon the archive, and within seconds it opened, and from inside appeared a box, Teddy took it out and placed it on a table nearby. He sighed. "Don't get your hopes up, it's not a very big box."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There's supposed to be an entire year here," he explained, opening the box. "Listen, The Daily Prophet has a scratch on its record. During the war they took the Ministry's side, and it was a very censured side. To top it all they weren't very...nice to Harry, or Hogwarts' head master—"

"Albus Dumbledore..."

"Yes, or the Order of The Phoenix, for that matter. So when the war ended, the Prophet of course changed the editor in chief, to clean the paper's reputation, but I guess the owner wasn't content with that, and they destroyed any evidence that made the Prophet a possible supporter...to Lord Voldemort."

"So..."

"They destroyed most of the articles of those last five years, yes."

"Oh," she said disappointed. They leaned over the box, and searched between the indicators of each month. Most of them were empty. She sighed.

"Listen," Teddy said softly. "Why are you're looking into this bloke? Maybe there's another way I can help you."

"You won't judge?" she whispered. He chuckled.

"Have I ever?" he grinned. Rose smiled back.

"Teddy...I think he's hiding something from me. Actually I think he's hiding a lot of things, and I'm afraid it might be something...dangerous."

"What? You think he's in some nasty business?" Rose nodded.

"Then why are you with him?"

Rose opened her mouth, trying to spell out something quickly. She wasn't going to tell him about the notes, that would have been too much information. She couldn't think of something to say fast, so she blushed fervently instead.

"Women," Teddy said, smirking while he shook his head.

"No! It's not like that! Teddy it's complicated. But all I want to do is make sure that..." she breathed in. "...his family is not using me, or maybe even him, to get somewhere else."

Teddy's eyes widened, he then nodded, solemnly. "Alright, then. I get it." He walked a few steps away and pulled two chairs that were in a corner. He offered one to Rose and sat himself. "Listen, I don't know much about that family, only that Draco and Lucius Malfoy were great rivals of Harry, and even of Uncle Ron and aunt Hermione. I know that when the war ended Harry put Lucius Malfoy back in prison."

"Back?"

"Yes, he had been in Azkaban for a year, but Voldemort helped him to get out. Anyway, Lucius Malfoy was in prison for seven years thanks to Harry and Ron, but he was still a man of power, he managed to appeal and got out. But Harry's greatest frustration was never to be able to put Draco in Azkaban."

"Right, that I knew."

"From what I know Draco has been in a low profile ever since, but Lucius,I've heard he's one dark bloke."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"Hey, I work in a newspaper. I've heard he's a coward, though. And that's the reason he never stroke back at Harry, he doesn't, followers, or guts..."

"What about Rodolphus Lestrange? What do you know about him?"

"The death eater? Well, he was married to a great aunt of mine," he answered. Rose blinked, she had forgotten that small fact.

"Oh yes, of course."

"Bellatrix was supposed to be one of the maddest, most dangerous witches of the dark side. She was my grand's sister, and Narcissa's—well, Scorpius' grandmother's sister as well. So, yes, your boyfriend and I are sort of relatives, I guess." Rose smiled. "I've met him, you know."

"Really? When?"

"Well, about eight or nine years ago. Narcissa went to our house once, it was during the summer because I wasn't at Hogwarts and she and my grand made up, after years of not talking to each other."

"Really?"

"Yes. So, after that she began to visit more often, and more than once she brought Scorpius with her. She was a very sad or complicated woman, I don't know. She seemed to like spending that time with my grand though, and she was alright with me."

"And Scorpius? What was he like?"

"He was a quiet kid. Most of the time he just walked around our house, sometimes he just stayed in our yard. For all I knew he was just as complex as his grandmother."

Rose looked down for a minute. "Does Narcissa still visit your grand?"

"My grand told me later that one day the visits stopped cold for a while. It took her months to visit again. She goes now and then, and they write to each other, but my grand told me that Lucius was being difficult on her."

Rose exhaled strongly, with every story she heard she was creating a very rough image of Lucius Malfoy, and she wasn't liking it at all. "Teddy," she begun. "Do you think it's crazy of me to think that Lucius might have been helping Rodolphus Lestrange this past months?" she asked weakly.

"No," Teddy said. "I think you would be very clever to say that," he answered. Rose sighed, her breath echoing in the quiet room. "We have left that family in the shadows for years. My boss never wants to have anything to do with the Malfoys so I can't tell that I know anything knew." Rose looked into his eyes, strongly disappointed. "Rose, I might not be very helpful, but if what you need is to look Lucius up, then I know the person who can help you," he declared, smirking all of a sudden.

"I don't think so. She's a tomb. She won't spill a word."

His smirk grew wider. "Hey, I'm sure we can break her down."

"No," Victoire said sternly. "I would be breaking about ten rules just by letting you walk inside the department, let alone let you go through the secret files!" she said. Her arms were crossed, and her slim figure blocked the main entrance to the department of Mysteries. Her eyes, a very light shade of blue glimmered. Long lashes decorated her eyes, and her hair, long and silky fell gracefully below her shoulders. It was a strange but radiant bronze colour, like none other in the family. Victoire Weasley, Rose's oldest female cousin and Teddy's girlfriend, had developed a career in the Department of Mysteries, most of the cases that became too complicated in terms of spells ended up in that department.

One of Victoire's specialties was to break out jinxes and hexes that regular Aurors couldn't break and find the contra spells. But the main thing was that she handled restricted information almost no one had access to. Not one word ever fell out of her mouth, and the only person ever to have access to the information she handled was Harry, and that was only because his status in the Auror department required it.

Teddy, as a journalist of the Prophet, at first begged to have access to details he couldn't find out for himself. But that never worked, his role as her boyfriend wasn't of much help.

"Vic, look at her. She's desperate!" Teddy told her, using a very soft tone of voice. Rose glanced at him, recognizing that he was behaving as manipulative as she had been a few hours ago. "Come on, she needs her cousin."

"What—hey—that's not fair—"

"Vic," he said, walking up to her. "I get it when you don't do it for me, but for her?" Teddy said sweetly, pointing at Rose. The girl did a great job at suppressing a laugh.

Victoire sighed, and pressed her lips together. "I don't think I can help you at all. " She paused momentarily. "But exactly what it is that you need, Rose?"

"I—" she began, she hated to have to tell the story over and over. With every time she told it she felt even worse. "I need to find some information on the Malfoys, Lucius and Draco, specifically."

Victoire opened her blue eyes widely. She frowned. "Why do you need to look them up for?" she asked.

"I—um—I'm kind of seeing Scorpius, that's why. And I think he might be getting into trouble. I think his family might be using him…or me."

"You're dating Scorpius Malfoy?" She asked, impressed. "Does Uncle Harry know this?"

"No! And you can't tell him!"

Victoire nodded. "Rose, this is completely mad. You can't use the Ministry's resources to look up your boyfriend! Do you know what you are asking for here? Do you even have proof of what you are talking about? If you are this afraid you should tell your parents or uncle Harry?"

"And what good is that going to do?" Teddy interrupted. "Without proof they'll just make her stop seeing him. They can't do anything else."

"Well, then that's exactly what she should do! Just stop seeing the guy," she retorted at Teddy. Rose pressed her lips, uncomfortable with the heat of conversation. Inmediatley, though, Teddy burst into a rather sarcastic laugh.

"Right! Because that coming from you is a very sincere advise. Back at Hogwarts you got into more trouble than anybody in your year. Would you have just—stopped seeing the bloke? That's what _you_ would have done, Victoire Weasley?" he inquired. Victoire stared intently into his eyes for a few, quiet seconds.

"Still, I don't think—"

"And even if she did." Teddy carried on. "What good would that do? If she's in danger she would still be in danger even if she stays away from him. You know that. Nobody can banish him from Hogwarts." Come on, she just wants to know who she's dealing with here, if she finds something strange then maybe it will be time for uncles Ron and Harry to take over. But with all the things that are on their minds right how do you expect them to worry about a _possibility?_" he stayed. Teddy was making one good point, even Rose was buying the argument.

"Teddy,"Victoire whispered, sighing. She stared at Rose for a moment. "I don't think I can help you that much," she said. "I'm not sure that you should be judging a book by it's cover."

"But I didn't," Rose answered. "That's exactly what got me here. I didn't want to judge him, but things got strange, I—"

"Alright," Victoire said, pressing her palm against her forehead. "Just come with me. I can get you in," she said, gesturing with her head. Rose smiled widely and walked inside. Teddy intended to do the same, but Victoire stopped him by pressing her palm against his chest.

"Oh no, you're staying out here," she said with a soft, almost seductive voice, grinning all of a sudden.

Teddy sighed and nodded. "It was too good to be true," he said with a shrug, he leaned down and kissed her lips gently. "I'll see you tonight at home."

Victoire smiled and nodded, before turning and entering the dark hallway she was about to lead Rose through.

They walked cautiously for a few minutes. Rose had never imagined that department to be so big on the inside. They crossed several doors and Victoire lead the way through different passages. Along the way they passed a few Aurors, but they didn't interrogate Victoire. Her presence was enough to let her through. Finally, they reached a black door that didn't have a knob. Victoire took her wand out and tapped the door twice gently.

"Victoire Weasley," she said out loud. "And an authorized companion," she added.

Victoire looked at Rose and the girl immediately knew that she too had to tap the door with her wand. After she did so they entered the room. The entire structure was black. In the same day Rose had invaded two very secret areas of the Daily Prophet and The Department of Mysteries, all to satisfy her curiosity.

"The room's empty," Rose pointed out.

"You just name the person and I'll look him up for you," Victoire said.

Rose swallowed hard. "Right," Victoire contemplated the hesitation on Rose's face.

"Lucius Malfoy," Rose murmured.

Victoire nodded. "That's going to be one long file," she said. She moved her wand in circles and murmured words Rose couldn't understand. She finally pronounced the name Lucius Malfoy and from the roof fell to the floor a big pile of parchments. "There it is." Rose leaned down to lift the first parchment. "Be careful with what you see. Remember, it's Lucius' file, not Scorpius'."

"I know," Rose murmured.

Rose looked at the parchments intently, seriously considering aborting the mission.

"Rose, can I give you a little piece of advice? Something I don't really follow myself."

Rose nodded.

"If you insist on looking for something, you're probably going to find it."

"That's what I want."

"Are you sure? Because you can find some really terrible things here. Are you sure that that's what you want?

"I just want to prove myself that I'm wrong."

"But you might be right. You might find awful things about his family. What are you going to do then?"

"I don't know," she whispered, deep in a sudden trance. "I'll figure something out."

"Sometimes, it's best not to know," Victoire said. Rose lifted her eyes and saw into her cousin's blue gems.

"Thanks Victoire, but as you just said, you never follow that advice yourself. I don't think I will either," she said, rather determined.

"That's what I thought," she smiled. "But you know that no matter what you find here, that doesn't mean that Scorpius has anything to do with it. You can't blame him for the family he has."

"I know! I know that! And I never would! But, the way he behaves sometimes, the things he says." Rose took her hands to her face. She wasn't going to say anything about the letters. She was determined to keep that to herself. But she was sure that if Victoire knew then she would understand why Rose suspected of Scorpius. "Victoire, I'm scared. I feel like I'm messing with someone I shouldn't mess with."

"If you feel that way then stop messing with him!" Victoire exclaimed.

"I can't! Victoire, that's the thing. And I need to know more about him, because I don't know my limits with him, and I don't know his limits with me! I need something to prove me that I shouldn't be scared of him."

"Rose, what did you mean by that?"

"That—that I don't know what he's capable of doing. I'm not sure now. I think he's a good person, no, not good, great. But then, these little things happen, I can't explain them but one thing led to the other and now I'm not sure he is the person I think he is."

"No, no! I mean…you don't know your limits with him? What did you mean by that?"

"Oh, that. I don't think I trust myself with him, that's what. The things I think when I stand by him, the things I feel, I don't think I should be trusted when I'm around him."

Victoire opened her mouth widely. "Rose, exactly how far have you gone with him already?"

"What?"

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, no, no—kisses, just kisses, nothing more than that."

"Just kisses?" she asked, raising her eyebrow, smirking gently.

"Alright. Maddening kisses, breathtaking. The first one was—Victoire I even forgot to breathe! I don't know what came to me! And every time he kisses me all these things run in my head, I can't even move properly!" Rose said, rather loudly. She found herself panting as she finished talking. Victoire laughed quietly, taking one hand to her mouth.

"Oh, wow," she said, shaking her head. "Rose, you know what I think? I think you fell for this guy, mentally, emotionally _and _physically. You fell for him so fast you have absolutely no idea of how to handle it."

"Well, that's one wise way to put it," Rose said, breathing deeply.

"The problem is that you're being too rational _and_ passionate at the same time. That's why you're so lost. You don't know if you should be snogging his soul out of his body or if instead you should be digging up his criminal profile to find if something's wrong with the poor guy," she chuckled. Rose looked at her cousin and gave into the sound of her laughs. She chuckled herself.

"God, that's exactly how I feel," she said, relieved to hear that someone understood her.

"Let me tell you something, you can read through the most terrible things but not one of them is going to make those feelings go away. You might as well live up to the fact that you're in love with him."

Rose's face went pale, but she didn't deny it.

"Merlin, Uncle Ron is going to die when he finds out," Victoire pointed out.

"Don't say this to anybody. I'm afraid dad will flip out."

"You can be sure of that. I wonder what uncle Harry would say," she murmured in fascination.

"He's not just any guy dad might be jealous of. And before I get more involved I need to make sure that I'm not getting into some bizarre game."

"Rose, what else is going on? Why are you so scared of him? It's not his fault that he—"

"—Victoire, he's hiding things from me, and I think they're related to our families. I mean, I really have my reasons to think all this. I know it sounds crazy but—"

"Actually no, not all. That's your awfully rational side talking. The Malfoys must have about a thousand reasons to want to get back at us. Our family made their criminal lives a lot harder. And uncles Harry and Ron practically dedicated a decade to chase them down. Reasons they have, of that I'm sure. But I insist that Scorpius might be just a victim."

"I know, and until a few weeks ago I was the first to defend him. But I have a really bad feeling. And I want to be wrong, Victoire I really want to..._be_ with him."

Victoire smiled, and sighed afterwards. "You are in a big mess, you know that?"

"I know."

"I still don't think you're going to find anything helpful here. I just hope that if you're not wrong, you have the strength to stay away from him."

Rose shut her eyes briefly, and Victoire must have understood that that was the least of the possibilities. She leaned forward and opened the file. They read silently for a few minutes, the file listed one by one the crimes he had been accused of. It was very specific in terms of dates, wizards or Muggles involved, and any other detail.

"He spent one year in Azkaban," Rose murmured. Victoire nodded. "Teddy told me that."

"That was after getting into a battle with, well, our parents, in the rooms of this department," she quietly explained. Rose looked around the room, and went straight to the paper again.

"I think dad mentioned it once," Rose tried to remember. "They never tell us much, you know. Dad only tells stories, like adventures. But they never really get serious about it."

"Can you blame them, Rose?" Victoire whispered. "They spent their entire childhood fighting deatheaters and dangerous wizards. Why would they want you near all that? Our parents tried to do the same with us, but Teddy's bond with uncle Harry always got him extra information and then our professions kept us very close to that side of our history," she explained. "And we're older," she added. Rose chuckled, rolling her eyes a little. She inspected the file once more.

"Then, after the war, Uncle Harry sent them to prison," Victoire added. "But the Malfoys have a lot of influences, even when they lost so much power. After seven years Lucius appealed and won."

"Teddy told me, how do you both know so much about Lucius, particularly?"

Victoire looked at her solemnly for a moment. "I had to open this file a few months ago."

"Why?" Rose asked, her voice breaking.

"The Auror department needed the information," she said, and flipped the pages until she found the last one.

"Suspected of the breakout of Azkaban that released ex deatheaters: Rodolphus Lestrange, Waden Macnair and Alfred Jugson, and brothers Ashley and Aston Banvard.

Rose fell silent, not even blinking.

"He was called in here, for interrogation about a month ago, and his mansion was searched. They thought he might be hiding the fugitives."

"What?"

"They didn't find anything, and Lucius threatened with shutting down the Auror department for violating his property. But, he's not as powerful as he used to be so nobody took him seriously."

"I had no idea all that was going on."

"Yes, it's been wild around here since the breakout."

Rose stood still, muted in front of the parchments that held that true. Scorpius must have heard about that search, surely he was aware of everything that was going on, and only weeks ago he had made a joke about Rodolphus coming for dinner during the holidays.

Rose breathed deeply. That was just a joke, she told herself.

"But they didn't find anything," Rose said, her hopes high.

Victoire shrugged. "That doesn't mean no one was hiding there." Rose sighed deeply. She was aware of that. Malfoy Manor was supposed to be an ancient mansion, surely full of secret passages.

"Listen Rose, I really hate to be the one placing all these things in your head. They might as well be false accusations. And in case they were true, Scorpius doesn't have to be involv—"

"Then why are you helping me?"

They looked at each other for a very long second.

"Because, you said you had reasons, and I would prefer you walking into this with both eyes open. So…I'm shutting up now," she said.

Rose smiled. "What about Draco Malfoy?"

Victoire nodded, and as she moved her wand in circles carefully she murmured the same incomprehensible words, then she pronounced Draco's full name. The file wasn't as long as Lucius'. Rose studied it intently, and shivered when she reached the estimated date he received the death mark. She recalled the night at the Slytherin party, how Jasmine had joked about Scorpius having one. Rose had almost believed it, but what really shocked her was the way she had joked about that possibility, not knowing how serious that actually was.

She continued reading, and reached the accusations he received for being involved in the attack Hogwarts received a year before the Great War. Draco figured as the leader of the deatheaters inside the castle, that night Hogwarts' headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had been murdered.

"He...he was responsible for that?" Rose murmured, astonished. Victoire shrugged.

"That's what the paper says."

"And he was never sentenced for it."

"No, his father pulled strings to make sure he never stepped in jail. I'm not a good source of information, but from what I've heard Draco Malfoy was always under the will of his father. But after the war he has been living decently. Not much has been heard of him since then. Lucius, on the other hand, has always been trying to regain his status in the Ministry of Magic. But, Uncle Harry and Kingsley have made that awfully hard. You know, Rose, your parents could really give you more information on that."

"Like they'll tell me," she said.

Victoire smiled. "They might, if you wait for the right moment to ask them. Aunt Hermione is good for talking to, you know that. She's still my number one adviser." Rose laughed softly.

"I might give it a shot," she sighed, before giving one last look at the information on the parchments. She remembered Scorpius' intent of confessing something to her, and wondered if that had anything to do with the case of the fugitives. Was his family involved? Was he involved? Was he going to confess something about the notes? What was she supposed to do if all that was true? If her relationship with him was nothing but a setup? What if the Malfoys wanted something else from her? What if Scorpius was backing down, and wanted to confess her everything?

What if she was imagining things? Was it all an awful coincidence? The anonymous writer, the fugitives, the accusations on the Malfoys...it could all be one big mistake, and she could lose Scorpius for involving him that much. If he ever found out that she was researching his family, he wouldn't forgive her.

"I think I should go now," she solemnly said. "I'm not getting anywhere with this."

"Hey, it's a first step," Victoire said, cheering her up. "Come on, I'll walk you outside," she said, piling the parchments together. "And maybe on the way out you can tell me more about Scorpius. He sounds like, one breathtaking man," she teased, as she moved her wand quickly, making the parchments disappear.

Rose smiled. "He's something, yes," she blushed.

"Aren't you going to give me the details?"

"I might, if you tell me when you are finally marrying Teddy. For heaven's sakes, it's been years!"

Victoire stopped cold, then gave her a very stern glance. "Very funny."

"I'm not joking," she said evilly. "You decided to take it slow when you moved back from France. That was three years ago. Slow enough, don't you think?"

"I'll get married when he proposes," Victoire told Rose, softly.

"Come on, like it isn't obvious that he wants to marry you. I'm pretty sure that he thinks it's you the one who doesn't want to."

Victoire glanced at Rose. "Maybe I'm just…waiting now," she blinked.

Rose grinned, shaking her head.

Her trip to the Daily Prophet and the Department of Mysteries left Rose with more questions than answers. But she focused on putting her questions to one side, at least until after Christmas. She didn't want to give her parents and herself a great headache during that day. She shared Christmas Eve with her family like she always did. Everybody met at The Burrow, where they exchanged presents, ate exaggerated amounts of food and enjoyed lazily, and often loudly, each other's company. Rose did her best to block her mind completely, but none of it really worked, especially because Ron was the center of attention during the entire day. His wounds had not healed completely and because of their magnitude it would take them days to close for good.

The poor evolution of his wounds made Rose remember that at the bottom of her trunk was a small jar of slug ointment, elaborated by Scorpius, and very effective to heal scars. She offered it to her mum, and without telling her where she found it, promised that it would work.

But Ron's wounds were nothing more than a reminder to Rose. According to him he had never been in real danger, but his appearance and the fact that someone had died in the middle of a duel, spoke differently. To Rose all of that was a reminder of how dangerous the entire situation was...for whoever dared to meddle.

Christmas day passed as well, and Rose began to grow impatient. Victoire had suggested her to ask Hermione about the Malfoys, assuring that her mum would not deny her any kind of information.

So one afternoon she walked into the kitchen, taking advantage of the moment she found her alone. At first she felt lucky and sat on the counter, staring at her mother as she used magic to peal potatoes.

"Mum"

"Yes?" she asked distractedly.

"Is dad going back to the Auror Department after what happened to him?"

Hermione's brown eyes blinked. She turned around and looked at her daughter.

"Of course. Why?"

"I thought that since he had been injured, he wouldn't—"

"—he won't stop until he finds the last of the fugitives," Hermione warned her gravely.

"I was afraid of that," she said disappointed. You know...but with the death of Rodolphus Lestrange, won't it be easier to find the rest?"

"We don't know that Rose. There's a possibility that Rodolphus was just benefiting from the breakout, maybe he holds no connection with the rest."

"Oh, because I thought that your interest in finding them was that maybe you thought they were...plotting against The Ministry, or even our family."

Hermione looked at the floor for a moment. She took a cloth and wiped her hands with it, as she walked to the table Rose was sitting at. Behind her potatoes continued to get peeled magically.

"You seem to be well informed," she said, taking a seat next to her. Rose shrugged.

"Not so well, " she reproached. Hermione nodded.

"Yes, Rose, we are worried about the breakout of Azkaban, but mainly about how that may affect our family."

"And why?"

"Because we don't want any of this to get to you. And yes, our first worry was that death eaters began to reunite. That's why Ron and Harry were so focused on finding them."

"But the two that had escaped are back in Azkaban, and Rodolphus, well...he's gone. So, technically everything's alright," Rose stated.

Hermione stared at her intently. "Technically."

"Mum, what is it?"

"Well, we know that the three of them were old men, weak, tired even. And they are nothing since Voldemort's fall."

"Then?"

"Harry and Ron, and most of the Aurors are worried about the two that are still free. Ashley and Aston Banvard. They're young, agile, and fearless, even. They are the ones that might be after something else. We think they're planning a sabotage against the Ministry of Magic. That's what they tried to do at Gringotts, and they were almost successful. I think they were using Rodouphus, Walden Macnair and Alfred Jugson to obtain information. They might be more people involved, people outside of Azkaban..."

"But all that, what does it have to do with us."

"Rose, listen to me. Anyone, who attempts against the Ministry and is related to Voldemort, no matter how long ago that was, will probably attempt against Harry first, or Ron...or me. That's when you come in, and that's why we need to be careful with all of you from now on."

"But those are just...assumptions."

"I'd rather not take any risks, your dad feels the same way."

"Mum, do you think that the Malfoys are involved in any of this?"

"How—why are you asking all this?"

"I've done some research."

"Why?"

"Answer me mum, please..."

Hermione shut her eyes for a moment. "Yes...I think they might be involved. I think they've been hiding people in their mansion, and Rodolphus might have been one of them. But Rose, it's mere speculation." She sighed, heavily. "Now, this sudden interest. This is all about Scorpius, isn't it?"

Rose remained still, then nodded slowly. Hermione took her hand to her forehead, like giving the subject an awful amount of thought.

"Scorpius? Scorpius _Malfoy_? What does Rose have to do with him?" Ron's voice startled both Rose and Hermione. They glanced at the kitchen door. He was standing under the frame, his shoulder resting against it. His face, stern, and slightly red explained to Rose that he had been listening to at least the end of the conversation. But that was enough to unleash what was sure to come next. "And?" he demanded when none of them answered.

Hermione shook her head. "Ron, he studies with her," she patiently said.

"She has barely mentioned him in the past six years, why is he suddenly the main topic of her conversations?"

"Main topic? Ron, you're being silly. So what if they're friends?"

Ron stood still, leaning against the doorframe, breathing slowly. Rose could tell that he was controlling his own temper, and she was thankful for that. He turned his head, away from his wife and looked at Rose instead.

"Is that true? you're friends _Now?_"

"Well, yes, kind of. He has been needing help in some subjects, so, we're studying partners, I guess."

"You...study," he asked, raising his eyebrow sternly.

"Ron," Hermione murmured.

"That's all you do?" Ron asked again.

"_Yes," _Rose retorted, the lie came out easily.

"Ron," Hermione repeated calmly.

"So, you assume that, after six years, out of nowhere, the man wants to be your friend. Just like that."

"Yes," Rose answered plainly.

"Because he needs help in—what was the subject?"

"Muggle Studies," Rose answered, feeling rather annoyed by his tone, and the sarcasm in his words.

Ron snorted, followed by a very mocking laugh. "Hear that? Muggle studies! Muggle studies? Seriously?"

"RON!" Hermione intervened. "Cut it…out."

"But Hermione, are you listening to this? Merlin's Pants! I'm I the only one who sees it?"

"Sees what?" Rose asked.

"Alright, that's enough!" Hermione said loudly, standing up in a fast move. She walked up to Ron, and looked at him for a moment. He glanced back at her, sternly, red in the face.

"Ron, stop it," she demanded.

"No! This is rubbish, only days ago you agreed with me when I said that the Malfoys weren't to be trusted!"

"This is different!"

"He's a Malfoy, isn't he?"

"Ron, you can't be that thick! He's a boy!"

"Draco was his age when he tried to kill Dumbledore, and what about you? Did you forget what they tried to do to you?" he said loudly.

Hermione took a step back, her face had gone pale. She shook her head twice, like begging him to be quiet about what followed that last declaration. Ron swallowed hard. He, too, had gone pale, his mouth still open, as if for a moment it had been independent from the rest of his body. Rose didn't realize that she was panting until her parents turned around, and looked at her intently.

"I'm sorry," Ron murmured. Hermione turned and looked at Rose for three brief seconds, then took off and left the kitchen. As her loud steps invaded the stairs and the floor of the second store, Ron waited silently under the frame. Rose knew about Draco trying to kill Dumbledore but not thanks to her parents and she certainly did not know about her mother. Her dad breathed deeply, and after glancing at Rose for a moment, he too left the kitchen and walked up the stairs.

Rose was left alone in the room. A cloud of confusion fogging her head. She couldn't allow that! Her parents couldn't just avoid giving her an explanation! She couldn't just sit there like a little girl waiting for the day they decided to trust her.

Rose stood up in a fast move and left the room. She ran to the stairway, and went up, towards her parents' room. Once she was there she stood cautiously by the door. She didn't need any especial technique to listen through the door. Her parents were loud enough.

_"I can't believe you said that in front of her! How dare you?"_

_"It was an accident! It just...it rages me to see that she might be getting involved with the one person she shouldn't!"_

_"Ron, they're friends! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!"_

_"Friends? And you're expecting me to buy that? You're insulting me, Hermione."_

_"Yes! Friends! She said so herself! And stop being so hard on the boy. You don't even know him!"_

_"He might as well just be another airhead, pureblood freak."_

_"Well, I don't think he's any of that."_

_"What? You've met him?"_

_"He came to visit her."_

_"WHAT? He came to my house? And you didn't say anything?"_

_"Our house, Rose's house!"_

_"How did he know where we lived? We set protective spells on this house during the summer."_

_"I suppose she told him, the protection fades when one of us tells the person where we live."_

Rose froze against the door. She had not revealed the address of her house to Scorpius.

_"Hermione, this is—I'm not allowing this."_

_"You can't tell her who she can be friends with. She has to decide that for herself."_

_"But, does it have to be him? What if they start—I don't know, dating each other?"_

_"I don't know Ron, but she can't pay for what happened with us, that was too long ago."_

_"I think we should tell Rose."_

_"NO! We agreed that—"_

_"She should know the type of people she's getting involved with."_

_"No! It won't make a difference!"_

_"Hermione—"_

Rose breathed in and without doing much thinking she opened the door to the room.

"Tell me what?" she said, solemnly. She was sick of that conversation. She wasn't going to allow her parents fight over what where supposed to be her decisions. All she wanted was the entire information. "What is it?"

Hermione shook her head. "Rose—"

"You know, it's very unfair that you do this because I will find out, you know I will."

"We are pretty sure that Lucius Malfoy is planning something," Ron interrupted. "We've been following him for the last months, but we don't know what it is yet."

"Mum told me that."

"We think they're using every source they have. The connections they have left at the Ministry might be helping them. They've been moving money, and confidential information out of Gringotts..."

"And, you think they're using Scorpius as well," Rose declared.

"Now I do," he said.

"But that's not what you were talking about downstairs," Rose said.

Hermione sat on the corner of the bed, absently. "No, that wasn't what he was talking about. But Rose, that doesn't build in any way Scorpious' character…"

"Well, whatever it is, it was enough for dad to hate them."

Ron lifted his glance. His expression was solemn, hard even, but not at all of anger. It looked more like the one of a very worried man.

"You're aware that The Malfoys and our family were never in the best terms, right?" she asked.

"But wasn't that rivalry with Uncle Harry?"

"And anyone who became friends with him," Ron intervened. "Draco was always cruel. He looked for people he considered weak, less than him, and made their life miserable, for the fun of it."

"But what does—"

"The thing is that as much as he hated Harry, it wasn't as strong as his hate towards...Muggle borns. And he had a special interest in—"

"—me," Hermione cut in. "The Malfoys are among the last family of _purebloods_, and according to them the school should have been cleansed from people like me."

"But, did he ever hurt you?"

"No," she whispered, slowly.

"Draco never had the guts. Malfoys are the kind of people who need things to get done for them."

"Then?" she asked, full of fear by now. Her dad was standing in one end of the room, while her mother sat quietly on the bed. Rose did the same, she took a seat next to her mother.

"That should be all you need to know," Hermione explained sadly, breathing in.

"Mum, you can't do this to me," Rose begged, looking at her father afterwards. He stared at Hermione for a moment.

"Rose," he began, there was a point during the war in which we were captured, Harry, your mum and me, that is. And we were taken to their mansion."

"Malfoy Manor," Rose whispered.

"Yes. It was the closest someone could take us to Voldemort," Ron added. Hermione glanced at him briefly.

"The thing is that over there, we almost got killed," she said, speaking quietly. "Rose, it wasn't just a childish rivalry. That's what you have to understand. In that house..." Ron looked at Hermione again, hesitant, and walked to reach her. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers down her hair. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment.

"Well? In that house what?" she asked, she could tell by the expression of her father that he wasn't going to do any more talking.

"Bellatrix Lestrange thought I had valuable information," Hermione intervened. "She used the cruciatus curse on me," she explained.

"What?" Rose whispered weakly.

"It wasn't just about information. Bellatrix enjoyed every second of it," her father added.

"Ron…" Hermione said, looking at him for a moment. "That's not necessary. It wasn't Lucius or Draco, but they simply stood there, for I don't know how long," Hermione said, her eyes absently staring at the wall in front of her. The back of Ron's hand was now pressed against her cheek. "And that's just as horrible."

"Mum…"

"I can't remember for how long it lasted—"

"An eternity," Ron added, his voice full of pain. She raised her head, and looked at him softly.

"I remember everything that happened before and after. I remember the room, their faces and the curse. I wouldn't have survived, of that I'm sure," she said.

"How did you escape?"

"Well, to me it will always be Ron the one who got me out of there," she said sweetly. Ron smiled shyly.

"But it really was thanks to a good friend of Harry, a house elf. He sacrificed himself for us. "

Rose nodded slowly, she felt herself smaller than ever. The room fell in silence. All she could do was recreate the event in her head.

"That Bellatrix Lestrange. What happened to her?" Rose asked fearful, her voice broke and she swallowed hard.

"She died in the war," Ron said quickly.

Rose turned her head. "How did she—Dad, did you…?"

"No. I would have loved to, though," he said. Rose's skin shivered.

"Ron, don't say that," Hermione whispered.

"Then how did she die?"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other.

"In the battle," Ron said. Hermione glanced at him again, he took a deep breath.

"Who killed her?" She insisted, sensing that something was missing.

"My mother."

Rose felt the blood leaving her head. She felt fainted, she sensed herself panting again. Her grandmother would never hurt a fly, no matter how hard her character was at times. She was a saint, and Rose had enough trouble digesting the fact that her father had killed a man only days ago, her grandmother...that was too much.

"It was a war Rose. Awful things happened," Hermione said.

"I know, I know!" Rose assured, but her breathing wasn't returning to its normal state.

"I understand perfectly."

Ron bordered the bed and stood in front of her. He placed his hand on her shoulder softly. "Do you see it now? Can you see why I don't trust them?" he asked. Rose looked at his healed arm, the wounds had been closing enormously fast since he started to use the slug ointment.

Rose nodded rapidly, by now she felt she couldn't breathe at all. Her throat had suddenly locked. She set him on one side, and stood up violently. "I understand...I do. I—" she assured again, breathed in, turned around and without finishing she walked out of the room fast.

She ran inside her room. Her mind had fogged. She breathed deeply, once...twice...

But it didn't help. She felt anxious, desperate. After that round of confessions, was she supposed to stay still and quiet? Was she supposed to feel satisfied? She had searched for that. She had desperately searched for information. She had found it.

Victoire had been right. She found what she had been looking for, what she was supposed to do with all that information remained a mystery.

She tried to breathe deeply again, closing her eyes, taking her hands towards her chest.

Her attack faded gradually and after a few minutes, she was able to sit down on her bed, in the darkness of her room.

"Rose..." the voice of her mother said. Rose felt as she walked inside carefully, her steps almost soundless. She turned on the lamp of the nightstand, and sat next to her.

They remained silent for the next minutes. Rose was concentrated on breathing, her absent eyes were focused on the wall.

Hermione's fingers interlaced with Rose's curls, and with much tenderness she softly moved the girl's head and placed it on her shoulder. She caressed her reddish hair, and Rose shut her eyes at the touch. She didn't have enough time to understand what happened next, but the cloud in her mind mixed with the emptiness of her chest. The emotion increased rapidly and made her shed tears on her mother's shoulder.

"I'm really sorry for what happened to you," she said, her voice breaking inevitably. "And I'm sorry I pressured you to remember it."

"Don't be. It's not your fault. This has nothing to do with you."

"Actually," she said, lifting her head up from her mother's shoulder. "It has everything to do with me."

Hermione looked down at the mattress. "I see. Rose, listen, I remember few things from that moment, but the thing I remember the most was Draco's face. He didn't stop looking at me the entire time. I'll never forget that."

"Mum, that's sadistic, that's"

"No. It wasn't like that. I had never seen a look like that on his face. He was...scared, frightened even."

"Scared of what?"

"I guess I'll never know. Rose, Draco Malfoy was never a good person. If he has changed over the past years I don't know. But back then he was a cruel person, coward, but cruel. But I'll always think that his failed attempt of killing Dumbledore marked him. I think he began to see things differently. And the night I was in his house I saw him lost, afraid, like he didn't know what to do next." Rose frowned. "But that's just me. Tell this to your father and he'll think I'm crazy," she smiled, placing Rose's curls behind her ears.

"Mum, I get dad. You nearly got killed that night," Rose whispered faintly. "And they were there. They let that happened, and that woman—it's"

"It wouldn't be so complicated if Scorpius wasn't his son, would it?" Hermione asked.

"No, it wouldn't."

She smiled softly and cleared the small tears from Rose's eyes before speaking again. "You know, I thought he would look more like his father."

"He doesn't?" Rose asked, utterly interested. Hermione shook her head.

"No, I mean, from the distance he looks awfully like Draco. Same hair, same contexture. Thin, tall, a little full of himself in the manner of speaking, or walking even," she teased. Rose chuckled softly and Hermione remained silent for a few seconds. "But when I saw him closely he seemed completely different. Aside from the colour of his eyes he must have taken it all from his mother's side. I don't know if I'm getting old but he's one handsome boy."

"Mum," Rose laughed softly.

"And he came to see you. You must be important to him. And he must be important to you, if you went through all this trouble to find information about his family.

"I don't think it matters anymore."

"Rose listen to me," she said, taking Rose's head in her hands. "None of this matters if you trust him."

"And what if I'm misjudging him? What if I'm wrong? Everybody's afraid of him. Everybody thinks he's dark and creepy. Maybe I'm the only one who can be attracted to someone like that because I don't see it."

Hermione sighed. "I wish I could tell you what to do."

"Mum, it wouldn't work—Dad would never allow it and I couldn't ever meet those people. Mum, I don't think I could ever set foot in that place, that house. It's just—it wouldn't work, ever. I couldn't be that close to people who hurt you that bad."

Hermione kissed her forehead, smiling softly, before standing up from the bed.

"Thanks sweetheart, but you don't have to worry about me. What happened, that was years ago. And I like to think that you are a good judge of character, better than what you give yourself credit for. I'll just tell you one thing: I didn't fight in that war to let those memories haunt me. I did it for a better future, and right now all I care about is yours. So, basically, it's your call."

Hermione stood up slowly and walked out of the room, and Rose heard as the door closed carefully. She laid on her bed and stared into the ceiling for minutes, then hours.

If it was her future what was on the table then she had to think about what she wanted, what she needed, what was good for her. Where all those things inside the same possibility?

She had to make a decision, and it had to be a smart one.

And it had to be fast.

_A/N: I trust and hope you had a very happy New year!_

_This was the only moment I could upload this chapter. Hope you liked it. Sorry for the huge delay. This song...the lyrics describe exactly what is going inside of Rose's head at this moment._

_Please...Review!_

_This comment goes to Jess: Yes, the title of this story comes from a song by Muse =D, my personal favourites!_

Artist: Brandi Carlile

_Lyrics:_

_Gone  
It's hard for me to see when I'm wrong  
It's hard for me to weep when I'm strong  
But I could never sleep when you're gone  
Oh but still  
If you were gonna crucify me  
I wouldn't want nobody to see  
'Cause you could kick me hard when I'm down  
Down, down, down_

I don't want wanna be  
Nobody's fool  
I've played that part so many times before  
How I long to be  
A shadow on the wall  
I will make no sound at all  
And when the sun goes down  
The shadow on the wall  
It cannot be seen at all  
At all

Over it  
Hey it's not that you would mess with my head  
I believe that you believe what you said  
You think you know me best and you care

But that's not fair!  
'Cause I don't really want to be safe  
It must have been the way I was raised  
Sleep with one eye open I say  
Hey hey hey

I don't wanna be  
Nobody's fool  
I've played that part so many times before  
How I long to be  
A shadow on the wall  
I will make no sound at all  
And when the sun goes down  
The shadow on the wall  
It cannot be seen at all  
At all

How I long to be  
A shadow on the wall  
I would make no sound at all  
At all


	12. Vinegar and Salt

_A/N: I am back! Sorry I couldn't update sooner. I do have to tell you: Thank you for your reviews so far! You have helped me and this story enormously. And also, thanks for voting in the poll. Only three more chapters to go if my calculations are correct! I hope you stay to see what happens._

_I wanted to share something with you! This story has been nominated at the Next Gen Awards on Live journal! I have no idea how that works, though, I just received the notice for one of the categories. I'd love it if someone can tell me how that works, actually. By the way, I have an account on live journal now, I'm just getting accustomed to it. My user is: paperbackw. I'll be updating there with some extra stuff about this story, so feel free to stop by!_

**Vinegar and salt**

As the holidays went by, Rose learned to live with an unpleasant emptiness inside her stomach, an emptiness that felt like anxiety at times, like pain at others, and very occasionally like despair.

But in spite of the sour taste it left in her mouth at the end of each day, she went on enjoying the company of her family, and savouring every good moment she found in the next days.

For New Year's Eve her Uncles Harry and Ginny threw a party at their house. Her entire family attended, even her uncle Charlie, who spent most of his time dedicated to his rather adventurous work. The Longbottoms were invited as well, which meant that Anya spent most of the evening with Albus and Rose.

There really wasn't much difference from regular New Year's parties. At nine they ate dinner, in so many quantities that everybody felt too full to move or breathe. Around ten Molly, Lucy and Dominique, touched by the zips of Firewhiskey they had stolen from the bar, each sung a different carol at the same time, something that always drove Rose insane. She couldn't understand how her uncle Percy never noticed when his two precious girls were slightly drunk. Around ten thirty George turned on the radio and put the loudest, yet catchiest song he found. It wasn't long until Teddy, whose hair was a bright shade of green, forced Victoire to dance with him. According to her she never danced in public, but it never took much effort on Teddy's side to break her down quickly. At eleven fifteen Rose was still staring at Teddy, and at how he embraced his girlfriend, her head almost hidden in his chest, both moving slowly to a an old, slightly cheesy tune, close to a dark corner of the living room.

She smiled, they had been together for so long, and she had always wondered what it was that made them look so wonderful together. A few years ago, Victoire had moved to France to study and Teddy had stayed in England because of his job. After seeing how much he struggled, Rose knew he would never get over Victoire completely. He never did, even when he was too proud to admit it, and even when he tried to date other girls. It took Teddy and Victoire less than two years to admit to each other that they belonged with one another.

Now Rose wondered, how badly could you love a person? So bad that she wouldn't get on with her life if he were missing from it? Wasn't she alone only a few months ago, wasn't she fancying someone else? Wasn't she ignorant of all that anxiety and doubt that formed nothing but emptiness?

What was there, inside of her chest and stomach, before that emptiness had arrived? She didn't understand how she could suddenly turn her life over one person, and in her case, it was one person she wasn't sure she should fall for.

Anya's laugh startled Rose. She shook her head quickly and looked down at the floor. Albus and Anya were playing exploding snap together. They took turns to play, but the more advanced the game became the fastest the cards went, making it almost impossible for either of them to win the match. As such, Albus suggested for both of them to join forces to fool the game.

Rose contemplated Anya first, her wide, happy smile looking like there was no better place for her to be at that moment. She then looked at Albus and at how oblivious he was about Anya's feelings. Rose didn't really blame him, even when she found it obvious, how could he ever notice when he still looked at her like part of their family? And if Anya didn't ever do anything other than over laugh at his jokes, he would never find out.

The New Year came, and with that Rose was hugged, kissed and given the best of family wishes. She received the tightest of hugs from her mother, and she had to wonder if it had anything to do with the previous circumstances. Her mum wouldn't say it out loud, but she would probably worry for as long as she could.

"We start school in a few days," Anya pointed out later, at two am when the she was sitting on the sofa, close to Rose.

"We do," she absently replied.

"Have you heard from Scorpius again?"

"No, but I'm not expecting to, either."

"Why not?" Anya frowned profoundly.

"I don't know why, I'm just not—he came all the way to my house to see me, but he doesn't write. That's how weird he is."

Anya turned to look at Rose, silently at first. "Well, did you figure out what you're going to do about him?"

Rose nodded. "I've thought about it, yes," she said, by which she meant that it was all she had thought about during the holidays.

"And…"

"I should stop seeing him," Rose said, rather hesitant for her taste.

"What? Are you sure? You just decided it? Just like that?" Anya jumped, her brown eyes opened widely.

"Anya, whose side are you on?" Rose demanded.

"Yours! And, it's just…Rose, you're not even sure. You don't even know if he's the one writing the notes, you don't know anything. You can't just stop seeing him. Everything could be a mistake. _You_ might be making a mistake" Anya declared. Rose turned, surprised at the girl's stunning security. She took her hands to her face.

"I know! You think I don't know that? But it's…all these things! It's him coming here to tell me something and then backing off, it's his reaction to my dad's accident, his reaction to Rodolphus' death, it's lily! Everything! What's all that about?" Rose reacted.

"I don't know, but it might have an explanation."

"I'd like to know it, then," she said, rather upset. Anya's defence towards Scorpius was beginning to annoy Rose. She wasn't making this decision without thinking it through first. But the more thought she gave to the subject, the more it hurt. "Seriously, Anya, what would you do?" Rose asked, then.

"Me? I—well, I wouldn't, I don't—I just think you should talk to him first, that's all."

"Why are you so sure he's innocent?"

"I'm not! But why are you so sure he's guilty of everything!"

"I'm not!" she said in despair. "Anya, it's all too confusing. I have no idea what to think! And he's so mysterious at times, it's kind of terrifying, really."

"You're not afraid of him!" she said. "If anything you're afraid of yourself…with him."

Rose widened her eyes. Anya's down to earth conclusions were beginning to impress Rose, who didn't think Anya could be that determinant about anything.

"I guess," Rose said before sighing profoundly.

Anya twisted her small lips in frustration. Rose observed her. It was like she really wanted her to be with Scorpius, someway. She almost wanted it badly, and Rose didn't know if it was because she was living through Rose and Scorpius; or if on the other hand, the man really inspired her trust. If that was the case then it was a nice change, because she would be the only one besides Rose who trusted him. Everybody else in Hogwarts thought him a freak.

"I'm sure of one thing," Rose continued. "If I'm ever going to put an end to this, I better do it now, before it's too late."

"Too late? Too late for what?"

Rose's heart beat suddenly with desperation. "To stop…anything," she answered sincerely. She wanted to believe that it was still possible for her to feel free without him. She wanted desperately to believe that she wasn't so hooked on him that she would lose strength the minute she saw him again. She wanted to believe that she could stand living with that emptiness in her chest and stomach. "Like you said, I'm afraid of me, with him..."

When Rose finally arrived at Hogwarts, few things were clear. First of all she was clear that she had to put an end to Scorpius' silent game, but of course she had absolutely no idea of how she was going to do that. If she confronted him she could either encourage him to lie or, if he was in fact innocent of everything, she would kill his trust on her.

More than once she was asked by Albus, what she was going to do about Scorpius, but every time she answered him with a simple _I don't know yet_, and then asked him about Annemarie to change the subject and his attention. Luckily, the trick worked like a charm.

She didn't see Scorpius on the train, or the halls. She had to live with the tempest that took over her stomach the entire afternoon.

That night she entered the Great Hall cautiously, looking straight at her own table. The tempest tormented her progressively. She carefully sat at the Gryffindor table, and with a lot of caution turned her eyes and mind towards the Slytherin table.

What she had defined as a tempest became a hurricane in a matter of seconds. Scorpius' glance was already fixed upon her. Her mind fogged as she looked into his solemn, grey eyes. He gestured with his mouth, it was a smile, a warm rather simple smile. Without thinking she smiled back, poorly, she knew, but authentically at the very least.

She contemplated him for the next minutes, the hurricane eating her rational thoughts, until she heard a throat being cleared next to her.

Rose turned to look at Albus. "What?" she asked dryly.

He gave her what she translated as a hard glare, and looked down at his plate. He shook his head silently and went back to eating. Rose rolled her eyes, she was hoping that Albus didn't become more of a pain than an actual help.

"Hey, isn't it odd that the writer didn't send anything else during the Holidays?"

Albus drank from his cup, and nodded quickly. "It kind of is. And let's just hope he keeps it that way."

"If he stops writing how are we going to figure out who he is?"

Albus looked at her, somewhat harshly, but then he lowered his glare. "I suppose you're right," he said before he looked up, towards the Slytherin table. "Weird, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Scorpius never wrote or went back to your place again."

Rose looked at him, she frowned in concern. She didn't want Albus to say out loud what she thought herself.

"And by that you mean…"

"You know what I mean, Rose, and if I'm right…then I think Rodolphus' death has something to do with it."

Rose's chest went cold, she lowered her eyes, bit her lower lip. "It might also be a coincidence."

He frowned, and looked at her again, but she didn't look straight at his eyes. "And how are you going to find that out?"

She shrugged, poorly. "I don't know but there must be a way. We can't just make assumptions," she said, looking up, at the Slytherin table, and at Scorpius again. "It's not fair," she whispered, tangling her eyes in the sight of him. She knew she was beginning to contradict herself, but she couldn't help it.

Rose was one of the last Gryffindors to leave the Great Hall. She waited until Albus was done saluting some of his friends. She observed him exchanging five quick words with Annemarie and she stood up from the table to leave with him.

Scorpius, on the other hand, had been one of the first to leave the Slytherin table. She had watched him as he stood up, and had shivered when he turned around to glance at her for a moment.

She made it to her common room quietly, and so did Albus, who didn't seem at all happy with the first encounter he had had with his girlfriend.

The thought of seeing him again, touching him, increased the heat of her skin. But, on the other hand, the thought of looking into his eyes and demanding answers to her many questions made her dizzy. She didn't want to enter that dangerous zone, not yet. She didn't want to end things with him without being absolutely sure of what she was doing. And by the look of things she was far from seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

That night, between the anxiety and confusion, she declared herself to be suffering a strong headache and didn't do her rounds. She knew that Scorpius would be waiting for her in one of the school's dark hallways.

The next day Rose attended her regular classes. She went to Herbology with Albus and was impressed by the growth of Mindy, their Mimbulus Mimbletonia. She then took Charms, a class she left fifteen minutes late, because Arabella Slade made her correct an essay that, according to Rose was perfectly fine.

She left the classroom on her own and was directing herself to the Great Hall when she was encountered in the middle of one of the hallways. Her breathing went short immediately.

"There you are," Scorpius' soft but deep voice said.

"Hey," her voice broke, she felt how her muscles tightened, and breathed in softly. She didn't move. Scorpius stood still, only a few steps away from her. He smiled softly but shook his head. "What?" she asked, shrugging.

"You haven't been avoiding me, have you?" he asked, raising his eyebrow in a very inquiring way. Rose bit her lip softly, feeling how red her cheeks were turning. His behaviour was making her feel like a ten year old. She parted her lips but he interrupted. "That pretty much answers it," he nodded dryly.

Rose walked towards him, raising her eyes to observe him intently. It was frustrating how inexpressive his face could become at times.

"You're hard to understand, Scorpius. I've been trying, but I don't think I can," she admitted softly. Scorpius' face changed considerably. He lowered his eyes almost immediately, his expression became stern.

"Is this because—"

"It's you disappearing. You went to my house and then disappeared again. Is that who you are? Is that what you do? Are you always just going to disappear?"

He swallowed, then looked at her eyes again. "No. Not from you, if that's what you're asking," he answered, his voice rough. "But these last days, you had to be on your own."

"You mean _you_ had to be—"

"—No. I mean you. You had a lot to handle with your father's accident. I bet they have all been worried about your family's safety, your safety. I would have complicated things," he explained, tucking his hands in his pockets. "I would have only been helpful to upset your father."

He was, of course, right. After the accident and after the discussion she had had with her dad, it would have been distressful for Scorpius to visit her. Ron had been very clear about his opinion towards the "friendship" they shared together.

Rose wondered into his eyes. "Still, I think there are other ways," she suggested.

Scorpius chuckled, and smiled warmly. He approached her even more, and Rose didn't even try to control the shiver, the shock that conquered her spine, the storm inside her stomach. He breathed in, close to her, like feeling her sense, and she tightened her eyes, just to control herself.

"I missed you," he murmured softly to her ear. She smiled, noticing how fast her strength had crumbled. It was pitiful, sure, but too pleasant to stop. She wanted so much from him; explanations and answers to her numerous questions. But the more she thought of it, the less she wanted to ask. If she compromised him, and she knew she would, he would end up lying to her, he would probably tell her what she wanted to hear. If he had something to hide then he couldn't stop hiding it, not just like that, and not if it involved his family. She was beginning to realize that she was better off in the dark.

He placed his hand under her chin, softly, temptingly, leading her somewhere. He leaned down slowly, and her heart gripped on every corner of her chest.

"We are in the middle of a hallway. Someone will see us," she reminded him, regretting the precaution. Scorpius rubbed his lips over the skin of her cheek.

"I don't care," he roughly said. She chuckled quietly.

"We are keeping ourselves in a low profile," she said again.

"Not anymore," he said, his voice deep in determination. She separated herself only a few inches away, to look into his eyes.

"I thought you wanted it that way."

"I don't," he murmured. "Everybody talks behind our backs, anyway. What's the difference?"

"That is true," she said, biting her lip softly.

Scorpius smiled, before he leaned down completely to press his lips against hers. He held her tightly, and she could tell by now that he controlled his intensity every time he kissed her. It was the way he held her what gave him away, as if trying to sustain not only her, but his own impulses.

Rose gave into the kiss quickly, shutting off the warnings her brain was sending her. Anyone could walk by, a teacher, her cousins, her brother, James…

She cut the kiss quickly, but didn't pull back. Their lips brushed against one another, softly.

"I want to invite you somewhere, tonight," Scorpius then said. Rose frowned intently.

"What are you talking about? It's Monday and it's Hogwarts. Where can we possibly go?"

Scorpius smiled. "You'll see. So?"he inquired again, smirking slightly. Rose shook her head. Her lips approached him, and she kissed his mouth in a sudden move. He breathed in, holding her tightly again, responding vividly to her unpredicted action. Before her head fogged and her lungs ran out of air, Rose separated herself from him, slowly.

"I have to go," she announced. "I'll see you later," she told him.

Scorpius' face had become plain, apparently stunned by the kiss and by her lack of response towards the question. He held her hand when she tried to walk away.

"So? You didn't answer me," he reminded her. Rose grinned.

"I didn't?" she asked, evilly. He released her hand, shaking his head, but his mouth began to twist into a smile.

"I'll meet you at your common," he told her. Rose began to walk backwards.

"I haven't said yes."

He smirked. "I'll be there at seven," he said again, ignoring her previous announcement.

Rose raised her eyebrow.

"Wear something warm," he finally said, and the way he pronounced that last word sent a shiver up her spine.

Rose smiled, turned around and walked away, her heart in her throat, her head postponing the infinite questions she no longer wanted answered.

Rose waited for a prudent moment to walk out of her common room. Even though she would be doing her rounds, according to everyone else, she wanted to hide the coat and gloves she was taking along with her.

She avoided talking to Albus that night, but she knew it wouldn't be long before she had to confront him. Only a few hours ago she had been snogging Scorpius in the middle of one of Hogwarts' hallways and if he was willing to go public with their relationship, then the rumours of them dating would no longer be a rumour.

Before walking outside she stopped to remember what she went through during Christmas; the things she had thought of, the many ways she tried to blame Scorpius' family for what had happened to her dad, the nights she spent thinking that he might be the wrong person to trust. And then, she had to shamelessly admit, that he had pulled a curtain between those thoughts and her feelings. With a slight smile he was able to turn her overanalysing nature into a pointless capacity of jumping into the wrong conclusion.

She closed her eyes, tightly together. He could be the writer, and he could not. He could have been hiding Rodolphus Lestrange in his mansion, and he could not. He could be seducing her with a hidden, dark reason, but maybe, the only hidden reason he had was feeling the same electrifying emotions she was so bad at controlling.

Rose breathed in. It was ten past seven. Rose walked out of the portrait of the fat lady, and into the hall. She stood still when she saw that no one was there, and waited for him to appear.

He did so in less than five seconds, Scorpius walked out of a corner, holding two broomsticks in his right hand. Rose frowned, raised her eyebrow and shook her head.

"You must be joking," she whispered, as she walked towards him.

"I thought you might enjoy the distraction."

"Scorpius, it's freezing out there."

"Nothing that a good coat and a good shielding charm can't fix."

"You're out of your mind," Rose chuckled. "I haven't played in months."

"You don't want that to become a year, do you?"

Rose laughed softly, and bit her lip.

"What?" he said again. "You've played Quidditch in winter thousands of times. Or are you worried that you might be too rusty?" he inquired. Rose opened her mouth in astonishment.

"Give me that broom," she murmured. Scorpius laughed.

They walked silently towards the main entrance of the castle, and then to the Quidditch Pitch. For the first time in over a year she felt the disturbing sensation of having things flying inside her stomach. Something she only felt when she was about to enter a match. The cold weather began to frost the bare skin of her face and soon Scorpius was setting a shielding spell over both of them, so the cold wouldn't bother that much.

Rose studied the place that surrounded them. Snow covered the arena, she looked up, at the hoops, and at how big they seemed with the moonlight shining upon them.

"Ready?" Scorpius asked with a rather warm smile. Rose nodded slowly. She hadn't played Quidditch since the summer with her cousins, and that wasn't enough to stay in shape. Scorpius trained every single night, after all. She carefully got on the broom Scorpius had given her and felt as her feet lifted up from the ground, higher by second, away from the cold snow.

Within seconds she was free to fly, around the hoops, over the seats of each of the houses. She felt the exhilaration, the comfortable happiness, the pleasure of flying. She heard her name being called and when she turned, she saw Scorpius at the other side of the pitch, flying at the same height as her. He carried a Quaffle with him, and threw it in her direction. Rose only had to fly a few more feet to catch the ball. She smiled, flew fast enough to reach the centre of the pitch and threw the Quaffle at him again. Scorpius caught it quickly.

The teasing game lasted over twenty minutes, at times she used all of the speed the broom gave her to fly high over the pitch, something she rarely did. From her high distance she called Scorpius and threw the Quaffle at him, surprising herself with how precise he was at catching it. He flew rapidly and caught up with her.

"Want to call it a break?" he suggested. She shrugged, and followed him as he flew towards Ravenclaw's benches. They threw the brooms in a corner, and sat in what was neutral territory.

Rose's heart was beating aggressively from the exercise, her breathing hadn't returned to a normal state yet, so she took deeps breaths, inhaling the frosty air.

"So, you do this every night," she murmured, looking at Scorpius, who was sitting next to her, breathing deeply in.

"Not this. It's just me, most of the time," he explained.

"How do you get away with it? Every single night you break like five rules by staying out here so late."

Scorpius chuckled. "You know, Rose, you'd be surprised but most of the times those who guard the rules are the first to break them," he smirked.

"What? That's not—" she tried to retort, but then remembered that as a Prefect, she shouldn't be staying outside of the castle at that time of night. "Oh…" she said with a frown.

"Professor Perry knows I'm out here, so I guess, you could say that I'm _authorized_, if that's really important at all."

Rose shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Of course," she mumbled.

"What? What is it?"

"Just, Professor Perry is the head of the Slytherin house, of course he wants you to practice Quidditch so you can win," she said. Scorpius laughed.

"So? Professor Perry is clever. What's so wrong with that?"

"Clever? That's beyond cleverness. Breaking a school rule to benefit his house is cheating," she said daringly.

"So, you're calling me a cheater," he raised his eyebrow, but smiled as he did so.

"Well, yes. And it's because of things like this that Slytherins have the fame they have," she argued, rolling her eyes again. Scorpius laughed once more, and Rose's cheek suddenly began to feel warm. She frowned at his lack of seriousness. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I just never thought myself a cheater for practicing till late hours. Isn't that what people do when they want to become the best at something?" Scorpius asked, his voice deep. Rose glanced at him, at the firmness of his grey eyes.

"Well, I—" she mumbled, but then closed her lips, with no real argument to back her up.

"Slytherins are not always what Gryffindors think, you know," Scorpius then said.

"Oh, I know that. Of course I know—"

"Slytherins can be smart, very agile...quick—"

"—Quick?" Rose interrupted. She raised her eyebrow, he grinned.

"Yes," he continued. "We can solve problems, get out of things very easily."

Rose swallowed hard. "That's not quick, Scorpius, that's being slippery."

He laughed softly, shaking his head. "It's just a matter of perspective."

Rose stared at him, the wind was blowing softly, stroking against his bright hair. "Perspective," she whispered. "Is that so?"

Scorpius smiled again. "Yes. Slytherins can be other great things. Problem is…" he stopped, and his face suddenly became plain. She hated when his face lacked of expression.

"What?"

"That sometimes the decisions aren't the best," he finished. Rose lowered her head for a moment.

"Have you made wrong decisions?" she dared to ask, her heartbeat warned of the territory she was entering. But she paid no attention. Scorpius, with a rather elegant move of his head, nodded twice.

He looked up, at the sky for a long minute. Rose didn't follow his eyes, she stayed focused on contemplating him.

"Do you know why I joined Quidditch?" He asked. Rose shrugged lightly. "I wanted to please my parents, my father, mostly."

Rose frowned, parting her lips. "What? Really? But you told me you joined Muggle Studies to upset them," she reminded him.

"That was in third year. Before I entered Hogwarts things were different."

"How different?"

"I admired my father, respected my grandfather. I actually did want to become like them, but that was a long time ago. When I first came to Hogwarts I saw things differently. I got into plenty of trouble that first year because I was a bit more radical than I am now."

The wind blew harder around them, moving his gold locks over his face. Without premeditation, Rose removed the strings of hair that had covered his eyes. He shut his eyes instantly at the sense of her touch, and she took advantage of that to run her fingers down his hair, before removing her hand away from him.

"I thought that maintaining the purity of our blood was the only way to save the Wizarding world. Like them, I believed muggles were cornering us, and we had become less by the years because of them. For ten years that was what I was taught by…my grandfather. He assured me he was preparing me for what was out there. He taught me spells when I wasn't allowed to use magic, and you can imagine how cool that seemed for a seven year old," he finished, a sad smile on his face. He didn't speak more, and Rose breathed deeply before asking her next question.

"Scorpius, what kind of spells?" she said. He turned to see her, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Nothing you learn in Charms class, or Transfiguration. Nothing harmless, Rose," he dryly said. "My grandfather used to say that he wasn't going to make the same mistake he made with my father. He kept repeating he was going to make me strong."

"Strong for what?" Rose asked.

"I never knew the answer to that either," he explained.

Rose swallowed hard. "And your father, what did he—"

"—He never got in the way, but never helped much either. I think he pretended like he wasn't seeing or hearing anything. You can imagine me, an eleven year old entering Hogwarts knowing more dangerous spells than I could handle, and believing things from a past century, things that were no good for anyone."

Rose sighed, nodding softly. "I remember that, everyone was afraid."

"You can't blame them now, can you? I used to fight with kids from my own house for underestimating the things I believed in. I had a bit of an…attitude problem. I did send John Philips to the Hospital Wing. I used a very powerful stunning spell" he explained, lowering his eyes. His face demonstrated that he wasn't proud of any of it. "I had never stunned anyone before."

"What happened? What made you change your mind? Why did you change so much?" Rose asked, fervently. She wasn't realizing how much she was pushing to know more.

Scorpius smiled warmly, before chuckling quietly. He placed his hand under her chin, raising her face a few inches.

"In second year, I began to see things differently."

"Just like that?" Rose interrogated. "One day you woke up and you saw that, everything you knew was wrong?" she asked wisely. She knew that nobody changed that abruptly, unless something really meaningful happened along the way.

"No," Scorpius said holding her chin tightly. "But, you know far too much about me already," he murmured. "I might have to get rid of you now."

Rose's chest froze, but a smile slipped from her lips. She shook her head in disapproval. "You have an awful sense of humour," she said.

"You're smiling, though." Scorpius smirked, releasing her face from his grip.

"Maybe I have an awful sense of humour as well," she explained. Scorpius laughed, and the sound made Rose smile widely.

"The point is that I loved this sport too much to leave it. And what about you? Why did you join Quidditch?"

She raised her eyebrow, catching the way he was evading the end of that conversation. Rose sighed strongly. "Well, actually I did it to please my dad too," she admitted. "He was really excited with the idea of me playing in the team, so I did it," she shrugged. "And I enjoyed it so much that I stayed in the team for two years."

"You quit the team last year, though," he pointed out. "I was surprised to see another person playing chaser in your place. I wasn't sad, though. The new chaser was easier to fool."

Rose chuckled. "Is that so? So you were happy that I dropped out?" she laughed, pretending to be highly insulted.

"As any Slytherin player would have been," he teased. Jane isn't as good as you, and that's great for me," he said in a shrug. Rose looked at him. She smiled softly when she detected the compliment.

"Thanks, I think."

A quiet laugh left his mouth. "So, why did you quit?"

"Well, Quidditch was fun but I had other priorities."

"Other priorities?"

"Yes, our OWLs. I already take more classes than I should. Third and fourth year were tough to handle having Quidditch practice all the time. So, in fifth year I decided to focus more on my extra classes and my Owls rather than a sport I won't be playing professionally."

"I see. And your parents had absolutely no problem with you leaving the team?"

"Mum understood. Dad...I think dad almost had a heart attack."

"That bad, huh?"

"It was awful, I'm surprised he didn't cry. But in the end, as much as my dad tries to impose, he always ends up letting us choose for ourselves," she said, realizing how imprudent her comment had come out.

He nodded, somewhat sadly. "That's really cool," he said then. Rose's cheeks went warm again, she didn't want to brag about how understanding her parents where, not in front of him. But again, he changed the direction of the conversation, as smoothly as ever. "And what's even cooler is that now I don't get hit by your savage throws," he said.

Rose laughed, taking her hand to her face, deep in embarrassment.

"That was only once!" she said. "And it was a long time ago…"

"Fourth year," Scorpius pointed out. "Second week of…March."

Rose raised both of her eyebrows. "That's specific, " she said weakly, her neck and cheeks burning.

Scorpius grinned. "You don't have to get red, everybody remembers the first time they get beaten up by a girl," Scorpius shrugged plainly.

Rose opened her mouth, drowning in embarrassment again. She knew her cheeks were red, and she hated that she could do nothing about it. "I'm not red!" she lied poorly. "And I—I did not beat you up!" she said, attempting to slap his shoulder. He moved his arm in a quick move, and took her hand.

"Rose," he calmly said, a grin spread across his face, while Rose tried to free her arm from his grip. "You threw a Quaffle, straight at my head, you knocked me unconscious into the arena, you sent me to the Hospital Wing. I think you beat the bloody hell out of me," he smoothly said. Taking her other hand firmly, making sure she couldn't release herself from him at all.

"I—it was an accident!"

"Was it really?" he inquired, questioning her with his deep eyes, smirking this time. "You won the match after that. Your cousin Lily caught the Snitch. The team didn't let me forget it for the following weeks, and the whole thing gave Jasmine enough material to tear the mickey out of me for the next months."

"Still! It was an accident!" she assured. Scorpius laughed, Rose rolled her eyes at him. She stopped putting resistance to his grip.

She had apologized, as any honourable player would, and he had accepted her apology as any honourable Slytherin would. But obviously, he hadn't forgotten about it.

"I know," he whispered at her. "You are too correct to cheat, or to play it dirty."

"What do you mean I'm too correct?"

He shrugged. "That you play by the rules, what else would I mean?"

"Yes, but the way you said it made me sound like an old made from the seventeenth century," she argued, trying to release herself again.

Scorpius laughed loudly, which was a very rare, but wonderful sound. "There's just no pleasing you, is there?" he asked, letting both of her wrists go. She looked at him, deeply.

"You'd be surprised. Gryffindors are _not_ always what Slytherins think, you know," Rose said, with a rather self-sufficient tone of voice.

Scorpius chuckled, widening his eyes. He shook his head at her response, and bit his lower lip as he gave her a very wide grin. Rose knew she was blushing, but she smiled all the same.

"You really are something…" he told her. "And what is it that I don't know about Gryffindors? According to you."

"Well, we are not about playing by the rules all the time."

"See, Rose, I wasn't talking about Gryffindors, I was talking about you. You are the one who plays by the rules. Gryffindors tend to be imprudent most of the time, if you ask me. From what I know courage leads them to revelry."

Rose stared at him, stunned by his last statement and found nothing better to do but exhale loudly. Scorpius looked at the pitch, the moonlight gave it a perfect lightning.

"Are you up for a match? One on one?" he asked. Rose looked at him for a moment. She didn't answer, she stood up and picked the broom she was using.

In less than a few minutes Rose had flown over the pitch, holding the Quaffle with one arm. Meanwhile, Scorpius looked for a position in front of the hoops. He nodded once he was ready. Rose flew across the field, enjoying the cold breeze of the night. Scorpius' charm had worked perfectly. Her body felt warm enough for her to enjoy the weather.

She decided to fly in circles at first, then across the pitch again, anything to distract him, and stop him from being ready for her attack. Finally, after long, teasing minutes she decided to fly down in a fast move and throw the Quaffle towards the right hoop. Scorpius, faster than she imagined, flew and caught the Quaffle, a smile spreading across his face.

For the next twenty minutes Rose did her best effort to score points, while Scorpius' efforts were focused on stopping her. She scored six times, but Scorpius stopped at least ten of her attempts. Her arms and legs began to hurt, but the adrenaline had taken over her, possessing her completely.

She flew in circles, as fast as the broom allowed her, and from the distance aimed for the centre hoop. The ball travelled fast, straight at Scorpius. He could have moved to a side, to stop the hit that was sure to come, but his ambition to stop it was stronger, and he tried to catch the flying Quaffle. The ball touched his hand abruptly, almost slid through his fingers, and fell to hit his shoulder, something that provoked him a loss of balance. Rose watched him as he fell from his broom and onto the snowy arena.

She gasped, flying down towards the place he had fallen to. She landed, threw the broom to one side and ran towards him. She immediately saw that he was moving, and felt an immense relief.

"Scorpius! Are you okay?" she loudly said, panting as she reached him. He was lying in the snow, facing down. She took his shoulder when she reached him. And he pushed himself up with his arms, groaning. He turned around, lying on the snow with his face up. He, too, was panting.

"I can't believe it," he said, as he tried to catch a deep breath. "You knocked me down, again!" he said. His hair buried in the snow, his eyes focused vacantly on the sky.

"I'm so sorry!" she whispered exasperatedly, kneeling down, and placing her hands on his cold face. "I'm so…so sorry!" she insisted, caressing his cheeks and forehead.

Scorpius' eyes focused on her, he breathed in. "At least this time you didn't knock me unconscious," he said. Taking one hand to his face, where he found and held her hand tightly. With a fast move he used his other hand to grab her waist and pulled her rapidly towards him. She lost her balance, and fell on top of him involuntarily.

"You idiot!" she said out loud, struggling in vain. "I thought you were hurt!"

Scorpius laughed. "I am! You hit my shoulder, and did you see how fast you threw that Quaffle? That was cold blood murder," he teased.

"Shut up," she mumbled, holding back a laugh. He held her waist against him, even more firmly, and she felt short of breath instantly. The distance between their faces was so short that she could taste his breath. He smiled, and she chuckled quietly. "I forgot how much I love Quidditch," she suddenly said to him, still panting. Every time her chest expanded she felt his chest moving. Scorpius tightened his grip around her, and Rose felt her body relaxing over him, her lips suddenly closer to the cold skin of his face.

"You mean, you forgot how much you love beating the hell out of me," Scorpius said.

Rose laughed softly. "That too," she said, sighing strongly. "I'm exhausted."

"To be honest, I'd be awfully scared if you weren't," he said, sighing as well, his head had found comfort on the snow, his hands held her tightly, like preventing a fall that was impossible, for she was perfectly positioned.

"But, it's a good exhausted. No, great," she continued, sensing that her heart hadn't stopped it's fast beating yet, and her breathing hadn't gone back to normal. The adrenaline had settled to live in her veins, and she loved it. "It's like I have so much energy bottled up, and it's reserved for something like this. I don't even know where it comes from, but playing Quidditch just makes it, you know, it gives you this adrenaline, this—oh god, it's amazing. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

She looked at his eyes, his face had frozen in the moment. But he reacted quickly and nodded slowly.

"Of course, I know...what you mean," he said, his voice suddenly rough. She smiled when she heard that he understood her.

"I can't believe I went on for a year without this. A year! I have to do it more often," she said, and noticed him raising his eyebrow, but paid no attention. "I mean, can you possibly imagine anything better than this? Can you imagine a better way of investing all your energy? Up to a point where every single bone of your body is completely exhausted? There can't be anything better." She stopped talking when she read the expression of his face. Underneath of her she felt that his chest had stopped moving, like he was holding his breath. His eyes had frowned in the strangest way.

After a minute of an awkward silence she finally begun to understand how uncomfortable he had become, and instead of saying whatever it was that was on his mind, he was swallowing hard.

"What I meant was—I mean, it was a good game. I wasn't talking about anything else. That's all, just," she pushed herself up, and he released her from his embrace.

Scorpius breathed in, deeply, painfully even, and rose his body up to sit on the snow.

"I know, I know," he said, clearing his throat, Rose did the same.

They sat quietly on the snow, in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. Rose glanced at him briefly now and then, Scorpius' eyes had become distant again.

"How's your shoulder?" Rose asked. Scorpius turned to look at her.

"It's fine," he shrugged. Rose shook her head and her hand reached for his left, injured shoulder. She placed her palm over it softly.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Rose asked while feeling the tension of his muscle. Scorpius closed his eyes for a moment.

"Just a bit," he admitted. "I'll be fine."

Rose nodded quietly, her hand had settled on his neck, slowly rising towards his face, and finally running under his hair. Scorpius stared at her intently for the next seconds. It wasn't long until he leaned his head down to kiss her. Her impulse made her hold herself tightly to his neck, and felt him groaning silently. She then realized that she was probably hurting his injured muscle, and wasn't really admitting how bad it hurt.

She tried to let go of the pressure she was putting on him, but Scorpius held her with even more strength when he took her by the waist with both hands and slid her over the snow, and close to his warm body. Their lips separated, but only for a split moment. She tightened her embrace around his neck, and felt an unexplainable pleasure when she felt that his skin was shivering.

Finally, their lips separated again, their eyes closed, the skin of their cheeks brushing against each other. "I think I could stay all night out here," Rose admitted through a soft whisper. She felt Scorpius chuckling softly. She opened her eyes to admire his quiet grin.

"If I were to spend the night with you," his low, rough voice said. "I'd choose a very different place. Less wind, less snow, absolutely no Quidditch."

His grin became a smirk, and Rose's chest suddenly vibrated. She smiled, every layer of her skin burning.

"No Quidditch?" she asked, faking a very innocent voice.

Scorpius shook his head. "You'd get distracted," he said to her ear. She laughed softly, biting her lower lip.

"It's late," she reminded him. Scorpius nodded, and pressed his cold lips against her mouth before releasing her completely. He stood up and she saw his expression turning painful again.

"Your shoulder hurts. Are you sure you're alright?" she asked him.

"I'm fine," he said again, extending his arm to help her get up.

The next day started off as any other would. Except for Rose's unexplainable wide grin, everything was normal. The night before she had entered her common room as discreetly as possible. She noticed that Chassity was awake when she came in her room, but neither of them said anything to each other, and Rose preferred it that way.

During breakfast she could barely eat anything. She aimed for an apple and a glass of juice, her anxiety was killing her appetite. She looked a couple of times at the Slytherin table and exchanged quick glances with Scorpius.

Albus, on the other hand, had concentrated on eating. Rose noticed that he had entered the Great Hall and had not even looked towards the Hufflepuff table. As a matter of fact, it was Annemarie the one who kept glancing at Albus that morning, while his eyes looked only at his breakfast, and his mouth remained silent.

"Really, Al, what's the matter?" Rose asked. "Annemarie doesn't take her eyes off you, have you even talked to her since we got back?"

Albus looked at Rose and shook his head, then kept eating.

"Fine," Rose said, sighing impatiently.

After a few minutes Albus set his forks on the plate, even before finishing and looked at his cousin again. "She's mad, that's what the matter is."

"What?"

"One day she's all over me, she barely lets me breathe, the other she needs her _space_. What the bloody hell is that? What am I supposed to do? Wait around for the good days and pretend like she doesn't exist the rest of the time?"

Rose widened her eyes. "I don't know Al."

"And you're a girl. So, if you don't know then there's no hope left for me."

"Actually, with that kind of behaviour, it seems like not even she knows what she wants."

Albus stared at her plainly, like admitting silently that she had nailed it with that conclusion.

Rose spent the morning anticipating her next encounter with Scorpius. She didn't share any of the morning lessons with him, and after two very busy periods she found herself at the Great Hall getting ready for lunch. Albus had entered the hall with her, but Annemarie had intercepted them. With a very sceptic face he agreed to have lunch at her table.

But Rose wasn't left alone for more than a couple of minutes. Soon Anya was standing next to her asking if she could join her. Rose knew that Anya couldn't handle Albus and Annemarie together, mainly because Annemarie used that time to show her boyfriend off to the rest of the girls at the table.

"Escaping bad company?" Rose asked her. Anya looked at her with rather naive eyes. She nodded and Rose decided not to push her into admitting the obvious. Instead she picked up a random conversation that distracted Anya from her suffering.

They walked out of the Great Hall chattering about the funniest things that happened during the New Year's Eve party. Rose was about to tell Anya that she had to run off to Muggle Studies when an old, black bird with reddish eyes intercepted them. Rose froze, watching the owl, which had suspended in the middle of the air, waiting for her to take the rolled parchment that was hanging from its paw.

But Rose didn't react, and it was Anya the one who untied the paper, and the bird flew away as soon as it could. Anya handed the parchment to the stupefied Rose. She had forgotten about the writer, she had actually imagined that she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.

Rose took the piece of paper, unrolled it and read the line to herself, then out loud.

"_They are watching you from above_," Rose said, her voice breaking. There was a stiff silence that lasted a few minutes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anya asked. Rose shook her head.

"It sounds—I don't know but it sounds like a complaint."

Anya looked at Rose, the girl's eyes had widened. "Rose, you don't suppose that he really wants to hurt you, do you?"

"Anya, it sounds like he has been after me and for some reason he wasn't capable of catching me."

"But, the other letters, they were so—different."

Rose rolled the paper again, her heart beating rapidly. "I have a class, I'll see you later," she said, hearing how nervous her voice sounded.

She reached the Muggle Studies' classroom rather fast. Her legs had moved on its own, because her mind had been caught up on the many things she had been postponing. She couldn't allow this to be a problem again, it wasn't an option. She wasn't willing to spend the next months receiving anonymous notes that were sure to turn worse.

Albus was right. That person, whoever he was, couldn't have the best of intentions, and she had to be aware of that. She had to prevent that the writer wasn't in fact Scorpius.

"Hey!" her voice rapidly said, her pulse already fighting against her throat. She had ran into Scorpius at the entrance of the classroom.

"Are you alright?" was the first thing he asked her. "You're pale." He took the back of his hand, and caressed her cheek softly.

"I'm fine, just—I didn't eat much today," she answered. Scorpius frowned, but said nothing else. He leaned down and pressed his lips briefly against hers. Rose stopped breathing for those brief seconds, and when he leaned back she looked around, at the people who were entering the classroom, all of them looking at them indiscreetly.

Rose wondered into his eyes for a moment, like searching for any possible answers in his firm, intent look. But she found nothing new.

She couldn't torture herself any longer. She couldn't keep thinking that his intentions were cruel, because the thought of it was beginning to tear her inside. And she couldn't just stop looking at him, kissing him, feeling him, now more than ever she knew how much she needed all of it. If Scorpius wasn't the mysterious writer, then he could even become a protector instead of a threat.

She wondered how much simpler it would have been if she had forgiven Patrick and hooked on to that relationship. She remembered how he made her feel once, the Goosebumps she felt when he kissed her, the smiles he got out of her. But she was too honest with herself. She could never, ever go back there, not after Scorpius. What Patrick once gave her were small butterflies flying inside her stomach. Scorpius was something else. No more butterflies, only hurricanes powerful enough to fog her head, taking everything that was on their way. It was fearful, and it could also become devastating if she lost control. She was entering the centre, the heart of it all, the eye of the hurricane, and she was enjoying every second of it.

The only thing she had left at this point was to trust him blindly. The only other option she had was to exile him from her life completely, and she wasn't considering it anymore, for that would involve the return of that emptiness she hated so badly.

She came to a final conclusion. If trust was all she had left, then so be it.

_A/N: If you want to know more about Scorpius and Rose's Quidditch match in fourth year, you can turn to my story: Small moments, big meanings._

Artist: Hooverphonic

Lyrics:

_I...like the things that you hate  
And you...hate the things that I like  
But it hurts  
Honesty's your church  
But sometimes  
It's better to lie  
I...am the vinegar and salt  
And you...are the oil that dissolves  
My frustration  
Honesty's limitation  
But sometimes  
It's better to lie  
I am the vinegar and salt  
And you are the oil that dissolves my frustrations  
Limitations  
But sometimes...  
I don't dare to ask why_


	13. Map of the Problematique

**Map of the Problematique**

The news spread faster than Rose imagined. By dinner that day everybody knew about their relationship. The eyes of her classmates said it all. She didn't recall ever being that popular, not even when she entered Hogwarts and she had been seen as the daughter of the wonderful Ron and Hermione, not to mention cousin of Albus Potter. She decided to have a quick, early dinner, just so that she didn't have to put up with the general gossip, and especially so she could prepare better for Albus' reaction, who hadn't arrived yet.

She was also grateful for not running into James at The Great Hall, he probably hadn't heard the rumours yet anyway, which was a rather wonderful thing. The thought of him confronting Scorpius was disturbing. James had a bad temper when it came to guarding for his female cousins, but Scorpius was not like the rest of the kids of the school. She couldn't predict how he would react if James pissed him off, she hoped he only ignored him.

That night Rose left the common room early to do her rounds, again missing an encounter with Albus. She met with Scorpius an hour later in the stairway to the Astronomy Tower, and realized then just how long her day had been, and how great it felt to sit with him, away from indiscreet glances and all the uncomfortable whispering.

"Listen, I should probably warn you," Rose said.

"About?" He distractedly asked, taking a curl that hung softly over her cheek, and placing it behind her ear. She closed her eyes for a second, and avoided what she was about to say. "About?" he asked her again, softly.

"Well, I've told you about my family, haven't I?"

Scorpius nodded. "So?"

"You should be warned about my cousins. All of them, really. They can meddle more than you'd ever want them to," she explained poorly. Scorpius chuckled quietly.

"You've said so before," he smiled.

"I know, but listen, James will probably try to talk to you or scare you, or...I don't know—"

This time Scorpius laughed spontaneously. Rose frowned, James' behaviour wasn't funny, It was a very insufferable thing.

"He'll try to scare me?" Scorpius asked, a wide grin covering his face. "That's fine," he carelessly said. Rose frowned again, but this time resenting his overconfidence.

"As I was saying," she continued hesitantly. "James is, let's say very protective about us...females," she rolled her eyes at the last word. "He's also a bit _insane_, yes, that's the word, when it comes to jealousy, and he's especially overprotective of—" she stopped and focused on his eyes. "of Lily and me," she finished. "He'll just say the stupidest things to you."

"Huh," Scorpius said, smiling again, his eyes wondering into the darkness that surrounded the stairway. "Didn't he punch your last boyfriend?" Scorpius then asked, looking at her again. Rose's eyes widened, a hot sensation covering her cheeks.

"You know about that?" she shrieked. He laughed shortly.

"It's hard to keep anything private in this school. From what I heard he didn't even use magic. He punched him, just like that. Impressive...and a little weird."

"Well, that tells you how insane James can be."

Scorpius laughed again, shaking his head. "Am I insane for enjoying that, then?"

"Enjoying what?"

"That your cousin made Patrick walk around with a broken nose."

Rose smiled shyly, looking down. "A little."

"He deserved it," Scorpius finished, taking Rose's chin and raising her face to him. "And that made me like your cousin James a lot."

"Actually," Rose pointed out. "It was kind of a misunderstanding." Scorpius frowned softly. Rose bit her lip. "I'm just glad everything happened the way it did. He wasn't right for me," her last words spread a simple but solid smile across Scorpius' face.

"He wasn't?" he murmured roughly. She shook her head. "And how do you know who is?" he asked, and her heart reached her throat in a second.

"I never know," she retorted softly. "I can only tell who isn't," she pointed out.

Scorpius stared into her eyes. "You always have an answer," he finished, before, pressing his lips firmly against the corner of her mouth.

She arrived at her common room rather late. The place wasn't empty, though. A few students were sitting at a table. She looked for her cousin, and found that Albus was sitting at the couch with Henry Carter, chatting.

She walked up to them and kept them company for the next twenty minutes. Her only interest was to wait until Henry went to bed, so she could sustain a proper conversation with Albus.

When he finally did so Rose sat silently with him, breathing deeply and looking for the right moment to speak.

"Rose," he said first. "What are you doing?"

She looked at him intently, his face was serious, stern even.

"So, you heard, then."

"You're dating him," Albus said.

"I am."

"It took you two weeks to conclude that he might be seriously dangerous for you, and your family, and what do you do? You decide to snog him in public!"

"Albus!"

"I'm just curious to know, what the hell are you doing?" he increased his voice.

"Albus, it's not him. I know it's not him."

"How?"

"I—I can't really explain but, I just—"

"You _just_," Albus said plainly, shrugging dramatically. "That's it, you _just_—Rose—you know what? You can do whatever you want."

"Al!" she said, grabbing his arm tightly. He turned his head to the other side. "I know it isn't him! Trust me on this, I just know, I can't explain how, but I—"

Albus turned his head back at her. His eyes softer this time. "Rose, you don't know, you want to know. It's different."

Rose silenced for a moment. Her eyes fell to the floor. Albus exhaled strongly, a sound that made her look up. His eyes and his attitude began to reprehend her, and she didn't feel like getting scolded by her best friend.

"It can't be him. You're going to have to trust me on that," Rose said daringly. Albus frowned. "The guy, he wrote again," she said, breathing in. For the first time she was naming the writer differently. Her conscious told her that the person behind every letter was a man. Suddenly it had stopped being simply a writer. A mind, one with questionable intentions, was creating the words she had been receiving. "And this time it was—Al I'm scared."

"What did he write?" He questioned.

"They're watching you from above," she said, and her voice trembled at the very end of that sentence.

"Rose, this is insane, this is bloody insane. I'm telling your parents. Actually, I'm telling my dad."

"And how's that going to help?" Rose asked quietly, coldly and calm. "They have graver things to take care of, how's my problem going to help them resolve theirs?"

"I don't care—"

"And what are they going to do? Give me like some undercover—auror or something to take care of me? Is that going to stop whoever is writing these? Al, it's been months, soon it will be a year, and this person hasn't done a thing, he just writes—that's all he does. How is that ever relevant for the auror department?"

Albus breathed in, clearly overruled. "You know as well as I do that there's something more to this. You just said you were scared," he told her, looking at her eyes intently. There was something strange about Albus that she knew she could trust. He was patient, and he always knew the right things to say during a debate. Also, he was much more intuitive than her, and she trusted the fact that in some level he was trusting her character. Otherwise he would have gone to her parents long ago. "If only I had something to work with, anything," Albus said, staring at the fireplace.

"Like what?" she murmured. "He doesn't leave clues. He doesn't leave a single thing. The handwriting is always different."

"Always?"

"Well, no, I mean, he's been repeating them lately. But I don't know if that means anything."

"What about the phrases?"

"Always different. Although, he can be very dark at times, others he can be kind of…seductive."

"Seductive? Rose that's rubbish—"

"—And the owls," she interrupted him. She wasn't willing to put up with his bickering. "The owls are really old and, a bit scary actually. He's sent some decent owls, but only two or three," she said thoughtfully. Albus chuckled. "What?" she turned to him.

"Nothing. " Remember that time I wanted to send my mum a letter. We were at Hogsmade. We tried to use the town's owlery for the first time. Rose chuckled.

"Weren't we like thirteen?"

"Yes. And that owl, the one missing an eye, chased us outside."

Rose and Albus laughed at the same time. "It tried to bite us didn't it?" She asked.

He nodded. "I think it was an eagle more than an owl. They had some pretty nasty birds in that place."

Rose stopped laughing, gradually. She looked at Albus suddenly. "Al, I could recognize those owls if I saw them again, you know..."

Albus caught up quickly, and stared intently back at her. "You think he's using Hogsmade?"

"He might. Why not? Where is he going to get that many owls? Not Hogwarts, of that I'm sure. Maybe it's just a public owlery," she said.

Albus nodded, repeatedly. "It makes a bit of sense. And let's face it. After months it's the only thing we've got. Anyway, we're going to Hogsmade this Saturday so I guess we can check that place out. And if you're right, then we might be able to get something from there."

Rose smiled, comfort filling her chest. "I'm off to bed, then," she said, standing up quickly.

"Hey, Rose," Albus cut her, standing up at the same time. "You haven't told Scorpius about this, have you?"

"No," Rose whispered, frowning at Albus' serious expression. "But I think I will." She sighed. "Al, I'm getting tired of this, and I think he might be able to help us."

"Rose, don't tell him. I get it, you trust him, but I don't have to...yet. I'm not in love with the bloke so I can't feel that _thing_ that makes you so sure that he's not the one messing with you."

Rose's eyes widened. "Are you making fun of me?" she asked. Albus looked away, he didn't answer, and that made the tide of anger that was forming in her chest, much bigger. "I can't believe you just said that!"

"And I still can't believe you're suffering from sudden blindness because of him," he said harshly. He had obviously been waiting to say that last. "You're the one who says that he's hiding something from you! And now you want to trust him on this? How insane is that?"

"Are we going to do this again? Al, he's not much of a talker, okay? But there are moments he tells me things that I know he hasn't told anyone before. Maybe if I trust him more he'll do the same with me."

Albus shook his head. "Maybe if you trust him more you'll put him on alert, and he'll know that we're looking into this."

"That's quite smooth, Al. I think it's great that you're giving me advice on whom I should trust when _you_ have been going out for months with a girl who couldn't care less about you, and who is as mature as a six year old could be. I think it's brilliant that you don't break up with her when _you_ are a hundred percent positive that she's not good for you. She might as well be with you because she finds you interesting or maybe even because she finds your family history interesting. But that's not good enough for you, and still...you pretend like it doesn't bother you. Great way to go. Brilliant example."

Albus became silent, and Rose felt awful the moment she saw hurt in his eyes. She closed her eyes tightly, turned and left to her dorm.

For the rest of that week Albus sat a few seats away from Rose during their meals. He only talked to her at the beginning and end of each day, and when it was strictly about school subjects. She felt awful for what she had told him, even when it was all true. But she couldn't get herself to apologize, not after the way he had offended her.

Scorpius had become her new every day companion, but as much as she enjoyed being with him, she couldn't stop missing Albus.

She thought about what he had asked her to do, and she didn't know if it was a way of silently apologizing after their fight but she decided not to tell Scorpius about the letters.

That Friday morning Rose piled up all the notes she had received up to that date and put them in her bag. She reread a few of them, shivered at some, and recognized how silly she had been for feeling drawn towards them in the beginning. But she also had to admit that he was a good writer, and that if it weren't for the turn things took, she would have enjoyed the anonymous notes.

_You make me smile_, one of the notes said. She shook her head, for the other note read: _Everything about you pains my envying. Your soul can't hate anything_. How could one person be so bipolar? Nothing good could possibly come from that.

She spent the morning with Scorpius, and realized that she hadn't prepared herself for what she had to say when Scorpius asked her what her plans where for Saturday.

"Actually," she said, rambling without noticing. "Albus has some things to do, he asked me to go with him."

"Really? I though you two weren't speaking to each other. You seemed to be upset about something."

"What? No! Of course we are," she lied.

"So, nothing's going on."

"No, everything's brilliant."

"Right."

"But maybe we can meet afterwards."

"No, actually I've got an extra practice. And I have one today too. I'm missing Muggle Studies by the way."

"You can't do that. You can't miss a class because of Quidditch."

"I have a permission singed by Professor Perry."

"Classic."

He smiled, and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I'll see you later."

She observed him as he left. She wanted it badly to be the next day, she wanted it badly to find something worthy at Hogsmade's owlery, and she wanted it badly to put an end to all that lying.

-  
She went to Muggle Studies by herself, and noticed how little attention she was paying to the class. She wondered if she should go alone to the owlery, or ask Scorpius to come with her. Only that if she did so she wouldn't be lying to him, she would tell him about the notes, and she would be ignoring Albus' warnings. At that moment she acknowledged that she had to choose between trusting Scorpius and trusting Albus.

After two hours of Muggle Brittan royalty, she decided that the least she could do for the sake of her relationship with Albus was to remain quiet, not tell Scorpius and go alone to the owlery.

By the end of the class Professor McDuff returned the essay she had written on Hamlet. She received the parchment and contemplated her grade. A sufficient smile did leave her lips, but for a few seconds only.

Her own victory was interrupted by Professor McDuff, when she asked Rose if she could take Scorpius' work as well. She did so and placed it inside her bag.

Rose arrived at the Great Hall early and found that Albus was there already. She sat a few seats away from him, to avoid any awkwardness during dinner. And as she did so she turned and found that Scorpius had been staring at them. She sighed, if she was going to lie the least she could do was to be good at it.

And like a life saver, Albus walked up to Rose, sitting right in front of her.

"Listen," he dryly said. "Is eleven am good for you?"

"Good for what?" she asked, astonished.

"For going to the owlery. That's what we said we were doing, innit?"

"Right. Eleven is fine," she told him plainly. Albus looked at her for two seconds, and extended his arm to take the bowl of turkey. She exhaled strongly, and restrained the smile.

He had breakfast with her the next morning as well, but of course there wasn't much talking between the two, she wasn´t expecting it from Albus.

"Did you tell him?" Albus asked plainly. Rose frowned.

She breathed out, softly, defeated, and looked at Slytherin's table briefly. He, of course, was at his same old spot, next to Thomas and Jasmine.

"No," she murmured, somehow upset for following Albus' advice. It just wasn't necessary, she knew that much. "I didn't tell him."

Albus looked at her in the eyes for the first time that morning, like trying to read her. It was brief, and she began to rationalize about the entire situation. Why did he have to be so hard on her? So, yes, maybe she did express herself a little too fully, but he was practically attacking her at that point, and the least he could do was trust her. She couldn't possibly be that wrong about Scorpius.

"I'll just...go get my things," she announced, her humour rather poor by now. She left the Great Hall rapidly, and headed towards her common room.

If only she could prove it to Albus. If only she could rub at his face how wrong he was, how silly he was behaving. She picked her backpack, and checked that the notes where there. Just in case she wanted to take them with her. Hogsmade could be one huge false alarm, and it could also be the beginning of a path of answers, and that, was as exciting as it was scary.

Just then, like a lucky epiphany, Rose remembered that she was still holding on to Scorpius' paperwork. She froze momentarily. That was it, that was one fine way of proving Albus how stupid he was behaving.

She took her bag off her back, and placed it on the bed. Slowly, she placed her hand inside of it, and pulled out the pile of small parchments. After placing her note collection on top of her bed she searched inside the bag again. Finally, after searching between quills and parchments, she found what she had been looking for. She pulled it out, a clean, folded piece of parchment. She played with it, between her fingers. Something stopped her from ripping it open, she did not know what.

She unfolded it, slowly enough to despair. She was suddenly, out of nowhere, behaving coldly patient.

Her heart stopped, breathing no more. She recognized it immediately. She had seen that handwriting elsewhere. Slim, but rough; him.

She felt herself breathing rapidly. Quickly, she went through the notes. The first ones looked nothing like it, but she searched for more. Her heartbeats felt certain by now.

She found one. "How I wish you could see the potential of you and me," she read, dizzy, fogged, she could not stop panting. "It's like a book elegantly bound," she continued weakly. "But in a language that you can't read just yet." Wrinkling the note hardly, she forced herself to stay on her feet.

She swallowed hard. What in the world had gone through her mind those past days? Her other hand, the one holding on to the Muggle essay, was placed on her thorax, trying to stop the anxiety, the pain, the suffocating feeling, the everything that was crumbling into nothing.

And then, the nothing became something much worse, anger. She could not restrain it, her neck felt warm, her cheeks burned. Her chest could not hold one more of those suffocating feelings.

She walked straight out of the dorm, Albus, she had to find him, but had absolutely no idea of where to begin. She stormed out of the common room, maybe that suffocating feeling would go away with air, fresh air.

Her pace was fast, but too heavy to get her anywhere. She ran outside, and trying to reach the hallway, she ran into somebody else, someone that made her head even dizzier, and made her body want to fall into small, piercing pieces.

Scorpius stared into her eyes, while Rose wrinkled the note that was in one of her hands. He inspected her quickly, looked her up and down.

"Are you alright?" he roughly asked. She broke. Her thorax had filled with something, she did not know what it was, but it filtered through her bones. The tempest was everywhere inside her being.

Her lips parted open, but the panting didn't allow her to speak just yet.

"Rose," he whispered, frowning in concern. She shut her eyes.

"Don't," she softly mumbled.

"Don't what?" he asked disoriented. She opened her eyes abruptly.

"It's you, isn't it?" she called out loud.

He hesitated. "What are you—"

"It's you!" she said again, shrieking this time. With all the strength she had gathered, she threw his essay and the short note towards him. They hit his chest, and fell weakly on the floor. He didn't move. "You wrote to me. You—what the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled this last time. So loudly it hurt her throat.

He remained still. "Rose, listen," he nodded. But the gesture doubled her anger.

"What? What are you going to say? That you're mental? That you're sick? You were with me all this time, how could you not tell me? Are you leading some kind of double life? What the—"

"Rose!" he demanded, and his voice echoed in her eyes. He slowly took her by the arms. "Calm down!"

"Calm—what?" she wrestled.

"Just, let me explain—"

"—You're sick. You were driving me—mad! The things you—you were threatening me—why would you—just let go of me!" she demanded, but he didn't release her, instead he put even more pressure on her arms.

"Threatening?" he asked, forcing his grip on her, hurting her wrists. "Rose, threatening? What are you talking about?"

He took both of her wrists with just one hand in a quick move. She struggled to free herself but it became impossible, his strength was too firm for her sake. Rage was feeding her, tears filled her eyes. But she fought the impulse back, she was not going to cry in front of him. With his free hand he took her chin, with such strength that it both angered her and scared her awfully.

"Threatened?" he asked again. His eyes frowning harshly. Her heart skipped a beat.

Rose frowned. She felt just how anxious, how frustrated her face must have looked. "What's wrong with you?" she asked, or begged, she wasn't sure of how her voice sounded.

"Rose, they were notes, stupid notes, just—"

"Just what?" She yelled. "Let me go! It's you, isn't it? It's all you. Your family was hiding Lestrange. You're involved with the breakout. Your family made you do this to me! And you're mental! How can you be so cool about it when you've been playing with me for months! Months! I—I—"

He had gradually released her wrists, and then, softly, her chin. She was free of him.

His eyes, stared at her, and at the same time seemed absent. Rose panted, her chest begging for air. She was free enough to run away, but instead she stood by him, looking intently into his eyes, suddenly waiting for the explanation that would tell her that her assumptions were nothing but a great mistake. She waited, in vain.

"You were sent, weren't you?" she then asked again. "You're using me. My father could have been killed because of you!" was her last scream. His face, plain as it was, looked out of place.

A long pause filled them, the rhythm of her breathing was the only safe thing between them, and just when she felt herself about to faint, he spoke.

"I've had opportunities, haven't I?" he roughly asked. Rose stopped breathing for a few seconds.

"What?" she whispered weakly, a shiver running inside her chest.

"I've had plenty of opportunities to do whatever I wanted to you," he said again, dry, cold, his voice suddenly sounding older. Rose's heart froze into one, solid, painful piece. She backed off. He didn't move, his face was hard, acid. She panicked, and slowly walked backwards again, away of him. Scorpius shook his head, and looked at her intently. For a second, she saw a faint expression in his face, his skin looked paler than usual. "Rose, give it some thought at least," he asked, dryly. He swallowed. This time she gasped, a result of her efforts in restraining the tears back. She became even more frightened of him. If he was in a position of denying anything, then that would have been the perfect moment. But, instead, he had said nothing.

"Stay away from me," she demanded, separating herself even more.

"Rose, don't do anything stupid," he frowned.

After that last, she turned, towards the dark halls, far away from him. The further, the better.

She walked rapidly, her feet heavier than before. But she surpassed that, and hurried herself to exit the castle. The breeze cooled the suffocation of her neck. She could breathe again, but she could not stop walking.

Her feet began to hurt, but she didn't stop, she followed the lonely path, not even thinking about where she was going.

Everything was wrong, and Albus had been right all along. Her father had been right. Her mother, who trusted Rose's judgment, had been wrong like her. Rose had turned out to be the worst judge of character there was.

But none of that had the slightest importance. Scorpius was now everything she had feared, and none of what she had fallen for.

She stopped walking, her feet aching. Where was the line between what had been real and what had been fake? Maybe nothing had been real at all. She breathed in, looking for a normal breathing pace. Her hands ran down her hair, then where placed on her neck. She raised her eyes, she was at Hogsmade.

She didn't recall how long it had been since she left the school, it seemed like she had reached Hogsmade very quickly. Her eyes wondered around the entrance of the town. She could hear her heartbeat, feel her throat completely locked, but around her everything else was normal.

Tucking her hands inside the pockets of her winter cloak, she walked down the main street, her eyes soaring every time she blinked.

She felt like running off again, running lowered the hurricane of her head and stomach. Walking, on the other hand, made her think, and that was no good, the least her mind could use was thinking about Scorpius. The slight idea of him made it impossible to breathe.

She reached the end of the street, and with that she saw a sign that lead her towards different ways. One of them indicated the town's owlery. Her feet led her down the path and into a small, wooden old house.

She swallowed hard, suddenly feeling cold, uncomfortable tears running down her eyes. She despised the fact that she could not hold them back any longer. She cried, as silently as possible in front of the owlery.

She didn't know what she was doing there. She was supposed to go with Albus. Albus. She didn't even remember to look for him, her head had thrown her to the first place she thought of.

There was absolutely no point in going to the owlery any longer. She was not going to find anything there. She knew who the writer was. She knew what he wanted to know.

Her heart stopped momentarily. She took her hands to her face, to wipe the tears off. Rose felt her neck, chest, stomach all burning at once. Her skin consuming, her heart shrinking. She never thought any kind of deception could hurt that bad. She never thought anything would ever hurt in that dimension.

She stopped crying, instantly, she shook her head and breathed in deeply. She could not crumble in front of the owlery, not in Hogsmade, not in Hogwarts. She wished there was some place she could run off to.

Rose looked at the old house, and stared at the door for a long time. No one came inside or left the cottage during her vacant observation. Few people used that owlery nowadays.

With no real purpose she opened the door in a desperate move and walked inside. The owlery was small and rather dark. A young man guarded the counter. She observed him, he was only a few years older than her. She caught his glance, he was staring curiously at her.

She avoided his glance, and walked towards the owls that rested in their dark corners. She studied them, one by one, and saw that one of them had bright yellow eyes. It could all be a coincidence, why, after all, would Scorpius use Hogsmade to send his notes?

"Do a lot of students come in here?" she asked softly, turning to the man again. He shook his head, his long black hair messed and tangled.

"Kids get scared easily 'round here," he smiled.

"They do," she said back, and turned to stare at the owl. She was certain that it looked rather similar to one of the messengers that had delivered her the notes.

"You might be the first student I've seen here these last months," the man said then. Rose looked at him again.

"Have you been working here for a long time?"

The man smiled widely. "Months," was all he said. She stared at his brown eyes. The man moved out of the counter. Rose tensed. "Nice birds, these ones," he said. "But too sharp for kids," he said. "That's why they're afraid of 'em." He chuckled. Rose smiled politely, slightly nervous. She soon felt the need of walking out of that place. "But they are good birds, these ones," the man continued. Rose assumed that it was only natural that a person like that would be obsessed with birds, if he had to work with them every day and night.

"I'm sure they are," she softly said, placing her hands inside the pockets of her coat, where she had put her wand. She felt like holding on to it, just in case.

The man nodded. "Sending a letter?" he asked. Rose felt stupid, while she was tagging the man as a crazy owl person, he was probably wondering what a Hogwarts student was doing at an owlery if she wasn't planning on sending a letter.

"Actually, I forgot to bring it," she said, shaking her head. "How stupid of me, I must have left it at The Three Broomsticks, or something. I better—"

"—He said you might come," the man then said, walking closer to her.

"What?" she frowned. "Who?"

"Red curls, tall," the man's eyes travelled quickly down her figure and up again. The act sent her a shiver. "Very…pleasant to look at. He said you might come 'round here sometime." The young man chuckled. "He never thought you'd come here alone, though. But, what do you know?"

Rose's heartbeat ran up her throat. She tightened her grip on her wand.

"Who said—"

"Your writer." He smiled. "I bet you're dying to meet him," he chuckled. Rose moved her wand out of her coat in a quick move, but even before she could point it at the man, he had drawn his wand towards her, disarming her quickly. She watched as it fell to the floor, only a few feet away from her. She looked at the wand, then at him.

"What do you want?" she asked him. The man shrugged, uninterestedly.

"Ah, that's not important. Save the questions for him, why don't you?"

Rose swallowed hard, but rapidly looked at a door that was behind him. "Maybe I should," she agreed, gesturing with her eyes towards the door. The man turned back at the lonely closed door, and that bought her enough seconds to throw herself to the floor to take the wand. But as soon as she touched the wood she heard him yelling, afterwards everything went black.

"_It was only a stunning spell, she'll wake up any second,_" Rose heard the man's voice saying. She was laying on wood. She did not open her eyes. She didn't even try to move, she felt her hands tied together. She knew the voice belonged to her recent attacker, and she heard it young but dry, less friendly than before.

"_How much of an idiot can you be, Fran?_" A male voice she didn't know asked. This new voice was deeper, stronger, but smooth at the same time.

"_She was quick, she was heading for the door. I had to make sure she didn't get away, didn't I? Didn't I?"_ Fran chuckled mockingly. "_Thought you'd be thrilled. This couldn't have been easier for you."_

"_Thrilled I'll be soon,_" The unknown man said.

"She's out of the stun," Fran said. "The girl's breathing faster". Rose felt her heart freezing, but she remained with her eyes closed. "Get her out of here, Gerard," he said.

"You are the one who has to get out of here now," Gerard softly said. She was sure all eyes were on her now.

"What if they come looking for her? She said she was at the Three Broomsticks—"

"If someone comes, you'll be at the owlery, behind the counter," he smoothly explained. "And, have you seen any lonely redheads coming in here today?"

Fran must have understood, for soon the sound of his steps told her that he was walking out of the room they were in. A shrieking door opened. "Hurry Gerard. I want to get out of this town. Don't want any Bloody Aurors interrogating me. I'm not getting any Legimancy done on me. The faster we leave the better." The door closed, and she heard the only men left in the room, chuckling.

"Take your time," Gerard's deep voice said. "Although I long to see your blue eyes again."

Rose's chest filled with fear, almost as much as it filled with curiosity, but she opened her eyes widely. She wasn't on the floor, like she first thought, instead she was on a wooden table, in a small dining room. In front of her a man stood very still. Tall, his brown hair was long, almost like Fran's, but was neatly tied. His appearance suggested that he was somewhere in his late twenties. Even though his clothing was simple, he appeared elegant. Rose's stare was firm, she tried to remember if she had seen him before. His eyes, brown and bright held a yellow glow in them, like a reflection of the candle lights that illuminated the room, or the oil lamp that was next to her. He smiled, neatly and warmly.

"You just made this," he stopped to breathe in deeply, then widened his smile. "too easy for me."

"What—what am I doing here?" Rose asked, using a firm voice as she spoke.

Gerard looked down, at the floor, shaking his head. "I thought you'd asked a simpler question, like, _who am I? _Don't you want to know, Rose?" He asked gracefully. Gerard walked up to her, and the tip of his fingers brushed her cheeks softly. Rose shifted her face away from him in an abrupt move and he laughed. The sound was cold, but smooth at the same time. He took her by the shoulders and raised her thorax up, so she was sitting on top of the table.

Rose tried to move her hands but not only was she tied up, even her fingers had lost all movement. She looked at her hands quickly, and panicked strongly, her heart raised furiously.

"It's a spell, Rose," he smiled again, and this time took her wrists with both of his hands. She observed him, controlling the rhythm of her breathing so he didn't feel how frightened she really was. The spell that was upon her skin didn't allow her to feel his touch, but she feared him all the same. "It'll ware out," he spoke softly, looking down at her, his glance firm upon her own. She tried to study his brown eyes, and only found that the yellow glow was natural of him and had nothing to do with the oil lamp light.

"Who are you, then?" she questioned this time, sustaining her glance.

"You know...I'm the one you've been searching, isn't that what you're doing here? Looking for me?"

She shook her head. "What are you talking about? I wasn't looking for anybody."

"Don't hurt me, Rose. After all these months don't try to play with me. You were looking for me," he said, releasing her wrists, and crossing his arms in front of her.

"I—I was—no," she insisted, thinking only of Scorpius. He could have been nothing more than a puppet. The insider, the one who brought the information, and wrote the notes. And then, she remembered what Scorpius had said only hours before. He had had every chance in the world to do whatever he wanted to her, and he never did. Rose's chest stopped its fast beating. "You're the writer," she whispered in realization. You—"

"You seem surprised," he frowned, taking her chin to raise her eyes at him. "Disappointed, maybe?" he chuckled.

"If you're the writer then, what do you want with me?"

"You have absolutely no idea who I am, do you, Rose Weasley?" He grinned again, sustaining her chin strongly. She tried to shift her face away, but his grip was intensely strong. "You don't recall your mother's intern last year?"

Her eyes widened, she stared at him. "You work at the Ministry, in the law enforcement department," she said, hesitantly. She remembered her mum having an intern less than a year before. She spoke of him only a few times at home, noting that he was transferring careers and that explained why he was doing an internship when he was over twenty five. But she must have seen him only a couple of times, for she didn't remember his face or his name at all. He concluded the internship and applied for a permanent job in the department, that was as far as she knew.

He stroked his free hand against her face, then over her red curls. The entire move gave her an unpleasant shiver that ran up her stomach. She put resistance, but with surprising speed he lifted her by her dozed arms and stood her up, holding her so strongly that it was beginning to hurt her arms.

"It would be much more romantic if I told you now that my letters were well intended, and that I can't stop thinking of you," he whispered, holding her in front of him by the wrists with one hand, with the other he held her face firmly. There wasn't much resistance on her behalf, she struggled, but her arms were asleep, and her thorax felt weak.

"What are you going to do with me? She gasped, shutting her eyes tightly or a few seconds.

"It's actually a matter of what I'm going to do _thanks_ to you. Ronald Weasley will have to spend a great deal of time looking for you. The thing is...I'm not sure he'll be able to find you. Isn't that terrible?" he said hastily to her ear, pressing his lips against the skin of her cheek.

"My father? What did he do to—"

"Your father—" he turned her around, and pressed her back strongly against him, wrapping her thorax with his arm, hurting her, complicating her breathing. "Killed mine, does that mean anything to you?" he roughly asked. "Does it?" He tightened his grip around her, his arm embraced her like a serpent, slightly choking her neck by now. His mouth remained close to her ear, she could feel him breathing.

"What?" she gasped.

"Of course it doesn't mean anything to you. You think we deserve to die like bugs, don't you?"

"I don't know—" she struggled for air. "what you're talking about."

"Fugitives, that's what I'm talking about. My parents, my family, that's what I'm talking about. You Weasleys have been taking them down, one by one, murdering them in the corners. Especially that father of yours."

"That's not true—"

"Is it? Your father doesn't put them in jail, he murders them. He's no better than them, he thinks he decides who lives and who doesn't."

She tried to breathe in, but her lungs were lacking strength.

"Lestrange, does the name ring a bell to you?" Gerard said then, Rose tried to swallow.

"Rodolphus Lestrange?" she murmured weakly. "_He_ was you father?"

"No! No, no! Try harder," He whispered hastily to her ear. Her skin shivered the moment he brushed his lips softly. "Rabastan Lestrange," he murmured somewhat sweetly, her heart stopping again. She remembered vividly the last person she talked to about the Lestranges, it had been Scorpius.

"That was years ago," she said, panting all of a sudden.

"Of course. Fourteen years ago to be precise. Tell me something, Rose...if I killed your father today, will you still remember it in fourteen years?" He buried his lips and nose very softly in her curls. She tried to shift away. "I believe you would."

"It was an accident," she murmured. "He would have never—"

"What do you know?" He shook her strongly, her arm was suddenly burning from the pressure of his grip. "You were two years old! You were safe, in your house, with your wonderful family, while your daddy destroyed other people's life," he grunted.

"He was a fugitive, he was a deatheater—"

"And that makes him less of a human than you?" He shook her body again, harder this time.

"No! But he had to—"

"Disappear? That's what Aurors have been doing these past decades, disappearing the plague. But, the plague leaves a legacy." He momentarily softened his grip around her arm and waist. With one hand he took her face and moved it sideways softly, to kiss her neck so softly that she barely felt it. Rose closed and tightened her eyes, she concentrated, trying to identify if the spell of her arms and hands was wearing off. His voice distracted her. "Tell me Rose, do you know? Do you even know if he begged? Do you even know if he was tortured? Do you know anything?"

"My father would never torture—" she breathed in, not finishing the sentence. She was sure the kind of man her father was, but Gerard was right, she had not been there, and if it weren't for Scorpius she wouldn't even know about Rabastan.

"There you go. I always knew I'd get back at him. It wasn't only my father, but he has a very special interest in the Lestranges."

"You worked with my mother," she said rapidly. "Your name—she would have known."

"I've been using my mother's maiden name since I can remember. I was told, wisely, that my name would get me killed."

"That's not true. You were innocent, nobody would have hurt you—"

"Shut up!" he loudly said, drastically aggressive, losing what had qualify as a strange elegancy. "Stop defending him. Stop defending them! The Aurors! They're all cut with the same knife. But, Rose, I was taught how to be patient. Everything I've accomplished has been because I know how to wait for the right moment and the right ways."

"What are you talking about?" She asked faintly, hearing him laugh softly to her ear.

"I was taught, well, I was taught that we'd get another chance—"

"We?" she whispered, her heart beating hard against her chest.

"Yes. The few of us who are left. We've been preparing, and we've done it well, very well."

"Who is we?" she asked.

"Rose, Rose, don't be so curious. Curiosity is what brought you here, after all. You see," he said, and his finger brushed softly her shoulder, her neck. "I developed more ambitious intentions," he explained. "I couldn't just settle with returning everything that should belong to us. I needed more, I had to make it clear that your family would no longer destroy me."

"So, there is a conspiracy, isn't it? People have been planning an attack."

"Yes, yes," he said softly. "But that has nothing to do with you, Rose. You and I...that's personal."

"You're using me to get back at my father," she said, plainly, so plainly she panicked.

Gerard held her tighter, but this time it wasn't with aggression. She heard him breathing in. "That's the thing. A year ago I was assigned to enter the Ministry of Magic, with a few...others who are infiltrated as well, at this very moment. And when I found that I could get closer to Ronald Weasley's family, well, that was a chance I couldn't turn down. And I found that he had two kids, and one of them...wasn't a kid at all. I heard about you, I saw you, and I knew it would be fun to bring you towards me."

"What makes you think, I was drawn towards you? I came here looking for somebody else."

"Rose, don't lie to me, it doesn't suit you."

"But it doesn't make any sense, why did you wait so long. It's been months since you began to write."

"I told you, I am a patient man. I admit I had a different plan in mind, but...I enjoyed writing to you, I admit I grew anxious, as I didn't think I would. You have...something, you know that?"

"You don't even know me."

"No, I don't. Isn't that strange?" he whispered again. "I only saw you, twice at the Ministry, when you brought your father dinner. Remember that? During the summer?"

"I remember."

"And I saw you every time you came to Hogsmade, every single time."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"Did you know that you're never alone? Someone's always with you, it was never the right moment. And to be honest I liked the thought of you receiving my letters."

"You are, you are completely mental."

"Am I, Rose? You know, I shouldn't even tell you this, but I was going to drop my plans, every single one of them. And then your father did me the favour of reminding me the kind of blood that runs down your veins. He went on and killed my uncle, the only direct family I had left," he grunted. "And you'll grow off to be just like him, won't you? And that's when it hit me. I can't stop now."

Rose closed her eyes. Her heart, which had been beating furiously, had suddenly slowed down. He moved smoothly, and soon she saw that he had drawn his wand out of the pocket of his cloak, and was aiming slowly for her neck, at the spot he had kissed only minutes ago. And for a moment, anger stroke her, not only at him, but at herself, she had made it too easy, this had all been her fault.

"I meant it, you know?" He told her softly. "I meant every single word I wrote. Everything about you does pain my envying. You're blessed, with family, money. You're so innocent, so perfect, so unaware of the world. I do want the bliss in your mind," he hummed.

"You know nothing about me," she said hastily. "And do you know, how useless this is?" She asked. "You won't win anything."

"He will lose something, the moment I disappear you, he will look for you. Can you imagine him? Investing all his energy in finding you? Oh, don't worry Rose, I'll find the moment to tell him you're dead in a year, maybe two...when he grows desperate. I'll tell him then."

She felt tears filling her eyes. "Do see how pathetic you are? You can't even confront him. Instead you chose to hunt down his daughter. That's—"

With great strength he turned her around, making her face him directly. For a second time she saw his strange brown eyes, and their peculiar glow. "Are you calling me a coward? I could have killed you months ago. Maybe I should have—I thought I made it clear. It was you, all you." He stared into her eyes. "I should have just kidnapped your brother, that would have been faster, and we wouldn't be here now, wasting time."

He frowned, the wand menacing the skin of her neck. "But, sadly, I chose you instead."

"You don't want to do this," she murmured, suddenly feeling her fingers again.

"You're still his daughter." He chuckled. "You won't stop being his daughter. And hopefully, when I'm done with this, he'll see my point."

"Hopefully?" she said.

Gerard's soft laugh shot a shill up her body. "You know, Aston told me I should've gotten rid of you months ago. I just couldn't get myself to—"

" As in Aston Banvard? He's with you? How many of you are there?"

"We're just a part of a very interesting society."

"What are you going to do?"

"Rose, Rose, I don't think that's any of your business. But I'll feed your curiosity, only a little. We've been putting our thoughts together, to find a way to recover what could have been ours so many years ago."

"Who else is in this?"

He laughed softly. "Rose, it takes more than your charming face to make me speak more than I have to."

"Is...Scorpius Malfoy involved in any of this?" She impulsively asked.

"What?"

"Do you know who Scorpius—"

"Of course I know who he is. A kid—that's who he is."

"Is he?" She asked, submerged in confusion, trying to remember the notes that matched his handwriting, his face when she confronted him, and the fact that he didn't deny it.

"It was all me," Gerard murmured slowly to her ear.

He increased the pressure on her arms. She felt the pain, but didn't complain, the spell had worn off, and it was her chance to safe herself. She maintained her eyes on his. "You don't ask any more questions, Rose," he softly said. She listened to the low tone of his voice, and waited patiently for a moment. Gerard released her arm and took her cheek with his hand, softly. She felt him breathing in, and she controlled the urge of running away.

Gerard didn't blink during the next silent minutes, and for a very long moment Rose held her stare on him plainly. She was coming to realize that he wasn't as much of a menace as before, he was losing the will of hurting her, and she had to use that on her favour to escape.

"What?" she whispered softly, to break the long silence. "What are you staring at?"

She felt as his hand travelled up the skin of her face. "I wonder," he whispered, leaning down, only a couple of inches.

"You don't want to hurt me." She told him, as a way of buying herself some time. With a very soft move she looked over his shoulder, and caught a quick glance of the oil lamp that was on the table behind Gerard. A loud thump, coming from outside, interrupted her concentration. She saw that Gerard broke his heavy stare and turned his head around to the door.

She had the opportunity, and since her body was free of his embrace she quickly moved and reached for the lamp, and just as he turned his head back, she slammed the object on his head. Gerard let out a loud groan, and as she ran off to the door she heard the lamp breaking on the floor, small flames arousing the wood.

She reached the door fast but found that it was locked. Fearfully she turned around and saw Gerard on the floor, reaching for his wand. His right shoulder filled with blood and the floor around him was already burning. She didn't hear the spell that hit her, but she yelled from the pain that grew on her head and thorax. She felt herself falling to the floor. She was conscious, but it took her a great amount of energy to open her eyes again.

"I knew you'd do something stupid. I could smell it it," he said. She trembled when he touched her again, to pick her up and wrap his arms around her. Her head was swelling, her knees couldn't hold the weight of her body, she knew that he was the one maintaining her on her feet.

She saw the angry expression of his face, and her heart ran when he took a knife out of his pocket and brushed her neck with it. She tried to wrestle, but she couldn't move from the pain. Soon, she was feeling blood, running down her neck, and she wasn't sure if it was the spell that had hit her previously or the knife that was now menacing her.

"It's best this way," she heard his voice, she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, even when she could feel the heat of the fire, and the threat of his knife. She heard him murmuring something, but never made it out.

Her ears deafening, her mind emptying. Voices came and went, collapsing in her head; yells, sounds, the burning of the flames. She felt her body touching the wood again. She could no longer open her eyes, a permanent darkness had arrived, a wonderful obliviousness. Her neck felt warmer, the sensation spreading down her shoulders. She tried to move her arms, to touch her head and prove if she was still bleeding, but not one of her muscles reacted. Breathing had suddenly become painful.

"Rose..." she heard. The voices had become one, but she couldn't answer, she was too far away from everything. "Rose," she heard again. Before dreaming, before leaving that place, she enjoyed the sound of the voice that insisted her name. It was rough, soft, and wonderful. Hands touched her face, her arms. She felt her body lighter and the voice closer to her ears.

"Rose, please...open your eyes."

But she couldn't.

_A/N: I know, you don't want me to leave this in a cliff-hanger, you've waited long enough! But it won't take me long to publish next chapter, honestly, it's very advanced. Please, please, review =D! We're reaching the end. And thank you sooo much for voting for this story during the Next Gen Awards! Your support is wonderful._

Artist: Muse

_Lyrics:_

_Fear and panic in the air_

_I want to be free_

_From desolation and despair_

_And I feel like everything I sew_

_Is being swept away_

_When I refuse to let you go_

_I can't get it right_

_Get it right_

_Since I met you_

_Loneliness be over_

_When will this loneliness be over_

_Life will flash before my eyes_

_So scattered and lost_

_I want to touch the other side_

_And no one thinks they are to blame_

_Why can't we see_

_That when we bleed we bleed the same_

_I can't get it right_

_Get it right_

_Since I met you_

_Loneliness be over_

_When will this loneliness be over_

_Loneliness be over_

_When will this loneliness be over_


	14. White Flag

**White Flag**

There was a time of dreaming, but there was also a time of a very peaceful silence. Rose enjoyed them both, dreaming of hot chocolate and rainy afternoons, losing the notion of time.

One dream turned into the other. One moment she was tranquil, laying on the grass, she was then winning a match of Quidditch against the Chudley Cannons and her father was crying from the thrill. Soon she got off the broom, relieved that the game was over, she found herself looking for someone. She looked, among the crowd that was vanishing just in front of her. Soon she found herself barefoot, her feet sinking deeply in mud. She recognized the place, dark and humid. The lake was tranquil and wonderfully quiet. She turned around and wondered how long she had to wait for him. Suddenly she hated the silence and the peaceful state of mind.

"_She's moving,_" a voice said.

"_She's moved before,_" a second voice recalled, this one came from further; she could barely make it out.

"_Not like this, she hasn't_," the first voice spoke again.

Rose tried to move her neck, but an uncomfortable pain stroke her head. She opened her eyes, aching from the rays of light. As the first blur passed, she knew who it was that had spoken first. His green eyes held an effusive expression she had seen only a couple of times in her life.

"Hey," she whispered weakly.

Albus smiled, he was sitting at the corner of her bed, in what was clearly the Hospital Wing. "That proves it. You're alive," he spoke. Rose chuckled weakly, her back hurting from the small effort.

"My head hurts," she frowned.

"Might hurt for a while," Albus said, looking at her face. She recognized the sensation of an unpleasant pressure on her forehead that spread all the way down to her neck.

"How long has it been?"

"You've been out a couple of days," he said, "It was because of the healing potions, we knew you were going to wake up sometime this afternoon. "Glad you're back, took you long enough," he reproached.

Rose swallowed with difficulty, her throat awfully dry. "I don't even want to ask," she expressed.

"Sure you don't want to know? It's quite the story," someone else said. This time she did recognize the second voice instantly. Her heart did stop, of course, but then ran so rapidly again that it soon began to hurt. She turned her eyes at him. He was standing only steps away from the bed, his hands inside the pockets of his black pants. He smiled the moment her eyes found him, but said nothing. It was a warm, yet very small smile.

She opened her lips, a sudden rash of impulse, but remembered that her cousin was there and controlled her will.

She swallowed hard. "What happened?"

Albus exhaled softly, looked at Scorpius, who returned the glance and then gazed back at her. She frowned discreetly, at their new complicity.

It was Albus who spoke first. "You went off like crazy to Hogs—"

"—I know what I did," she interrupted, her head hurt when she raised her voice. "I'm talking about—what happened there? Where's Gerard? Who found me?" she asked, looking at Scorpius momentarily.

"Rose, when you left the school, you were not quite yourself," Scorpius explained. Rose noted that he hadn't moved from his spot, like he didn't want to get any closer to her. Her heart shrunk impressively, she felt blood running up her head from the pressure. "You stormed off alone, I had no idea where you went. At first I was going to let you go, but a while later I ran into Albus, he was looking for you, and suddenly something didn't quite fit."

"Rose, you and I were supposed to go to Hogsmade together," Albus intervened. "I didn't get what it was that made you disappear like that. Then, I found Scorpius instead. He told me about the letters, and that you were furious about something, and then it all made sense once he explained it to me."

"I know. You weren't writing," she said, suddenly submerged in confusion again. Nothing was clear to Rose. Gerard's confessions and Scorpius' reaction were all a very big blur of events. Albus looked at Scorpius briefly, then back at her.

"Well," Albus continued. "He told me everything, and when he told me his version and I realized you had gone off by yourself, I thought you might end up getting into trouble. So I went looking for you, Scorpius came with me. When you weren't at school we went to that owlery. I told him about the plans we had made, and Scorpius insisted you were there," he finished. Rose looked at Scorpius, who still hadn't moved.

"I had a hunch," he said softly.

"We went inside, we didn't find anyone other than a man guarding the place, but Scorpius saw your wand on the floor, behind the door."

"Did you attack him?" she asked to Albus, frowning in concern.

"It wasn't hard, two against one after all," Albus smiled proudly. "Knocked him on the floor quite fast. Scorpius here has got some pretty great tricks."

Scorpius laughed quietly, shaking his head. Rose raised her eyebrow. She could not believe how quickly they had bonded. Two days and an incident had been enough.

"And then?" she asked, but her eyes were focused on Scorpius all of a sudden.

"We found the room you were in, when we went inside you had passed out," Scorpius stopped, focusing his hard eyes on hers. "He had a knife against your throat."

"I remember that," she said, lowering her eyes.

"You were bleeding," Albus said. She looked at her cousin again, apologizing with her eyes for displaying that scene. "And so was he! Did you break that oil lamp on his head?" He asked, amused all of a sudden.

"Yes," she answered weakly, biting her lower lip.

"It worked. He was in pain, struggling. We got there just in time."

"What happened to him?"

Albus looked at Scorpius momentarily, then back at her. "He got away, we tried to stun him. But he's quick, and when Scorpius went to help you, we duelled until he found the moment to disapparate."

"He ran off?" Rose asked, her mind swelling with the possibilities that fact could bring.

"Sorry, Rose," Scorpius whispered. She breathed in at the sound of his low voice.

"Sorry for what? You two are the only reason I'm alive. And it's my entire fault! I shouldn't have gone to that place, I shouldn't have paid so little importance to the fact that a stranger was writing me obsessive notes, I—did everything wrong."

Albus shrugged. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself."

"My dad, my mum? Do they know?"

"Of course, Rose! They haven't moved from the castle in two days. Uncle Ron assigned a team to look for that guy. They investigated him and all. My dad is leading the Aurors, but they haven't found him yet."

"He's a Lestrange, he's Rabastan's son, do they know that?"

"Yes, and do you know who found that information? Victoire! She researched his life from beginning to end and found that his mother was married to Rabastan. But she never used the Lestrange's family name, and neither did their son. Hancock was the family name he has lived with all these years. Aunt Hermione says it's because after the war many descendants preferred to clean their names, so no Auror would ever look for them, or use them as witnesses. I guess it pays off to have your family working at the ministry."

"How did you even know who he was?"

"Well, he looked familiar to me when I first saw him, and it took me a while but I remembered he was your mum's intern, and aunt Hermione took it from there. Remember that we went to the Ministry a few times last summer?"

"Yes."

"It's creepy, innit? To think he was watching you the entire time."

"It was revenge," she intervened. "He wanted to get back at my dad for killing his father."

"Yes, aunt Hermione figured that one out too."

Rose closed her eyes tightly, thinking of her dad, how worried he must have felt, and how guilty, even."

"Al…" she said, a half smile spreading in her mouth. "If it weren't for you I'd be—"

"Don't bring the party down, don't say that, alright?" Albus said, placing his hand on her knee, which was covered with a clean, white sheet.

"It's true," her voice broke. "And after the things I said. I'm so sorry, I was upset with you but that didn't give me the right to meddle in your relationship. Our cases were different," she said, and looked at Scorpius for a second, he had straightened himself.

"Hey, it's fine. Somebody had to say it, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, about Annemarie…she wasn't good for me, and I knew it from the very beginning. I let the good things cover for that, and I hoped she could change. But yes, I knew I couldn't trust her, just like you knew you could trust Scorpius." Rose smiled at her cousin, even when the muscles of her face ached. She was certain that Scorpius was becoming awkward with their conversation. "It's over now. Saturday morning. I talked to her."

"I'm sorry," she whispered and tried to push herself up, but discovered that her arms weren't strong enough. The effort made her abdomen ache, and she gasped. "What are you moving for? Stop," he ordered.

"Right...then, can you come closer please?" she asked him. Albus frowned.

"What?" he asked, leaning down towards her.

"A little bit more," she said. He reached the level of her face with his, his eyes oblivious. Rose raised her head only a few inches and kissed his cheek softly, but meaningfully. Her head hit the pillow again, and Albus frowned even more.

Albus frowned. "That was unnecessary. You're being weird lately," he declared. "I'll leave before you get even more emotional. Look, people sent you presents," Albus pointed out as he stood up. Rose turned her head over softly, and saw that the nightstand on her left had a substantial amount of chocolate frogs, muggle chocolates, and bags of drops of heaven on it.

"Chocolate!"

"Your grandparents, Aunt Audrey, Uncle George, Teddy, our grandparents, and I can keep going. Do you know what Uncle George said when he came here yesterday afternoon?"

"What?"

"He told our dads that they should be proud of us. He said James may be the trouble maker, but you and I were following their steps, so they should be prepared for the headaches we'll bring."

Rose chuckled, it hurt her chest. "That's silly."

"I know, but Uncle Ron didn't find it silly or amusing." Albus said, and cleared his throat dramatically. "Alright, then! I guess I'll go and tell uncles Ron and Hermione that you are back to life."

"Wait, Al," Rose said impulsively, but when Albus turned to see her, Rose's cheeks went red, and she muted herself. Albus glanced at Scorpius in complicity.

"Don't worry," he said. "It'll take me a while to find them, big castle, you know," he said plainly through a whisper, and walked away from the bed and out the lonely Hospital wing.

Rose's eyes didn't hesitate, they wondered into Scorpius the very moment she realized they were alone in the room. His hands still tucked tightly inside his pockets, he walked slowly towards the bed, from which Rose felt like jumping out of. He stopped, just when he was close enough to her.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "It was me, I ruined everything. That guy is still out there because I was stupid enough to—and the way I behaved with you, I was stupid. I don't know what—it just got so confusing at one point that—"she silenced, and Scorpius' solemn face contemplated her, like waiting for her to speak again. A shiver travelled up her body once she felt his silence.

"Are you done?" Scorpius asked, softly, but Rose felt it strict. She frowned at him. "Stop apologizing," he said then, and his face spoke with a painful expression. She breathed in.

"I don't even know what you're doing here."

"You have no idea? Rose Weasley?" he pierced with his eyes, like he had done many times before.

"You're upset, I get it, and you should be. You have all the reasons in the world to—"

"I'm not upset," he said again. Her heart rose to the level of her throat.

"Then, you're disappointed," she bit her lip. "I turned out to be like everybody else."

Scorpius, standing as he was, took her chin with the fingers of his right hand, placing his thumb firmly on her lips, sealing them. She silenced, and he sat on the spare side of the bed, closer to her than the place Albus had been sitting. Her heart was begging for permission to jump out of her chest. She wanted to tell him what he meant to her, how lost she would be if he didn't forgive her, ever. "You're never like everyone else. Don't say that. I bit mental, yes, but I have to admit I fancy that side of you."

"What?" she murmured, beneath his thumb, he rubbed his finger over her lips softly, patiently.

"You thought I was setting you up, you thought I was threatening you through anonymous letters, and you still went out with me," he shook his head, Rose stared at him blankly. That had been Albus statement only a few days ago. Her eyes widened in surprise. She thought he would feel indifferent, she thought he wouldn't want to even look at her after the way she had treated him. She thought the breakup was tacit.

"I wanted so bad to be wrong," she admitted, as her words came out of her mouth so firmly, she felt entirely exposed, naked. She was becoming vulnerable because of him.

He gave her a half smile. "You weren't entirely wrong."

"But you're innocent."

"Of all this I am," he nodded. "I'm just not the most innocent person out there," he confessed, his grey eyes dark, his hand caressing her face softly.

"I don't get it Scorpius. I asked you about the letters and your reaction made me so positive that it had been you! At one point I thought I had two writers, I even though you were working for Gerard." Scorpius laughed quietly, shaking his head. "I know. I'm a thick head," she concluded.

Scorpius sighed strongly, he lowered his eyes. "This is embarrassing," he sighed. He then turned his head towards the nightstand next to Rose. "Let me take one of those," he pointed at the chocolate frogs, and Rose frowned in astonishment. She shrugged, and he extended his arm and opened a treat. As Rose observed him with amusement, she discovered that in the table also ruled paper geese and dragons, along with a few jumping origami frogs. She was impressed when she saw one of the dragons guarding a paper egg. Her brother was becoming a master in origami. He bit one leg of the animal, and wrinkled his face to the taste, she smile at the sight of him eating chocolate.

"I was writing to you. I'm responsible for some of those notes," he said, a hot sensation invaded her chest violently. She was overwhelmed, but attentive again. "Rose, I can't tell you how long it has been since I first…" he sighed, "Saw you. You got stuck in my mind, my will. At first, when it was mere attraction I liked to play with the thought of it. You and I weren't the ideal couple, our family history and our life styles complicate everything. So, it became safe, because you were distant, we weren't friends, and we weren't right. It was amusing to fancy you. It felt like a game. But I let it grow on me, I never fought it but I never found it serious either."

Scorpius swallowed softly for a moment. He grabbed the remaining frog with his left hand and he set his right arm on her left side of the bed. He leaned down, and she felt momentarily trapped beneath him.

"I underestimated myself, you. I discovered at one point that you were the only thing I wanted, and I wanted you fully."

Rose tried to breathe air in, her lips and chest trembled in the process.

"I guess I'm no different than him," Scorpius said, she shook her head, silently, denying his last statement. "I didn't know where to begin. Everything I knew about you suddenly felt so intangible. We had barely spoken to each other, and if anything we shared rivalry during classes. And then, one day, I guess I must have been ridiculously obvious, because your cousin Lily Potter walked up to me after dinner and said something like: So, you fancy my cousin, planning to do anything about it?"

"What?" Rose chuckled. "Lily did what?"

"More than that. I denied it, and ignored her for the following week. But, hell, that girl can be persistent! She became my shadow, she didn't leave me until I listened to what she had to say. So, one day I had to ask her what it was that made her believe that you and I had a chance to make it as a couple."

"And what did she answer?"

"She said she had a hunch, and she was good with hunches. I think I laughed when I heard that. Found it kind of stupid, actually. But then she said something I couldn't deny. She said she was the best chance I had to reach you," he smirked. Rose shook her head.

"You didn't need Lily."

"Maybe, but I have to admit she knows you, and she told me a few things that turned out to come in handy. One: you're stubborn, and a little full of yourself, but that fades quickly—"

"She said that?—"

"Two," he continued. "You are competitive, so if I ever felt assaulted by you in any way, I shouldn't take it personally. It's just your way to start a good competition," he grinned. She shook her head slowly. "Three," he said, leaning down towards her, his mouth reaching her ear slowly. "And my personal favourite, you hate losing," he whispered, her skin shivered. "And that makes you insufferable during a class if you don't have the final word. So I had to be patient because, I'm not a great loser myself," he finished, and leaned back to his original position.

"Sounds like Lily pointed out the worst of me," Rose raised her eyebrow, Scorpius laughed softly.

"I needed to break you in, and that's when Lily suggested the notes. I found it childish, but again that cousin of yours is too persistent for her small size. She insisted, and the idea grew into me. I figured they had to be anonymous, and if my plan of slowly breaking into you didn't work, then I had the notes, maybe that would catch your attention."

"But who wrote them?" Rose inquired.

"Me, that explains why they're so awful," he said, taking the chocolate that was on his left hand towards Rose's mouth. She bit it, savoured it and swallowed it.

"_You make me smile_, that was you wasn't it?" She said, trying to remember the handwriting of each of the letters to identify which ones were his, but it became impossible, that moment had been too emotional to remember any part of it clearly.

He grinned.

"What else was you?" She asked softly, and heard her voice come out sweetly.

"The lousy ones," he said, taking the remaining piece of frog to his mouth.

"Don't be ridiculous. There weren't lousy ones," she said, her heart freezing as she waited for his reaction. To her pleasure, he smirked.

"Is that so?" he raised his eyebrow. "You tell me the ones you remember and I'll tell you if I wrote them.

"Don't do that," she feared, and bit her lip, but she accepted the challenge. "Alright..._I think you fell from the sky_," she said, he smiled widely.

"Mine."

"Ok, that one was sweet," she admitted.

"I blame that on your Shakespeare," Scorpius said. "He has an impressive concept of death, heaven, hell, angels. It's amazing the thought Muggles put into that."

"Come on, tell me. What else was you?" Rose pleaded with a string of voice.

Scorpius smiled, poorly. He looked down at the white sheet that covered Rose. "_How I wish you could see the potential of you and me._ _It's like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can't read_." Rose smiled, widely, too pleased to fake anything. "And that was it," Scorpius continued. "I chickened out, I didn't want to write to you indefinitely, so I decided to stop. Besides, it was bringing me too much trouble. I couldn't write to you during the Christmas Holidays because you would identify the handwriting, and I had to make sure you didn't see any of my school papers. I stopped for good. Your cousin wasn't glad about that."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"I postponed it, one week at a time, until I felt like an idiot for postponing it too long," he explained. But I scared you, and now that I think of it, it was stupid."

"It wasn't," she said quietly. Scorpius smiled pleasantly. "I have one question, is that the only reason you didn't write during the Holidays? Because, it seems to me like you had a lot more going in your head and your house back then," she said straight at him. Scorpius breathed in, and pressed his forehead against hers for a few seconds. "I'll tell you but do we have to get into that right now?"

She closed her eyes tightly, she wanted to know everything that disturbed her, but trust overruled her. "We can talk about that later. I still have a lot to know about you, though."

"You'll have the time...but you won't like parts of it" he confessed, separating himself from her.

"I'll manage," she said.

Scorpius smiled softly, and his hand rubbed the skin of her face, travelling down to her neck, where she felt a small bother as he touched her.

"It's healing fast. But he left you serious injuries. Rose, when I saw you...for a moment I thought the knife had stabbed your neck."

"You were the one who was calling my name, weren't you? You were the one who asked me to open my eyes."

He smiled. "You heard. I though, I thought it was too late."

"Nothing grave happened," she said. "I'm beginning to think that he wasn't going to do it. He looked so confused."

"Psychopathic is the term," Scorpius grunted.

"I guess," she whispered, resting her head on the pillow. "But it's over now."

"It won't be over until he's dea—"

"Don't!" Rose intervened, loudly enough to surprise him. "Don't say that word." She frowned, suddenly feeling painful about everything that had happened. The reality and gravity of the situation was sinking inside of her. She was in a good deal of danger. "Can we talk about something else?" she wondered hastily. She looked at the opened box that once belonged to the frog they had just shared. "You didn't check it out to see who you got."

Scorpius looked at her, and then took the box to withdraw the card that was inside.

"Huh," he said, his expression plain. "I got your father again," he raised his eyebrow, and Rose stared at the small, enchanted figure of her dad.

"That's hilarious," she said, with poor enthusiasm. "Oh, my dad," she shut her eyes tightly. I'm so stupid!"

"Why?"

"Half of my family are either Aurors or former members of the Order of the Phoenix, and I chose to unfold the matter myself. My dad is going to kill me."

"Well, yeah, that was a bit stupid. But it wouldn't be you if you didn't take care of the problem with your own hands, would it?" once she caught his eyes again she maintained her smiled and glance firm, he did just the same.

"You know that much about me?"

He shrugged plainly. "It's been years, but I still remember you trying to reverse the effect you caused in that healing potion. Remember? The one you exploded because you didn't allow Professor Maddock to help you?"

"Um, vaguely," she said, turning red.

"He hates me, doesn't he?" Scorpius asked, his eyes studying the card again.

"What—no! Why would he? He barely knows you. Well, if it's of any consolation, my dad hates any man who dares to breathe next to me." He smiled poorly, and Rose regretted the comment as soon as it left her mouth. "Why would you assume he hates you?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" He asked directly. Rose stared at him in silence for a moment.

"He might have some trouble understanding. He—it's complicated, Scorpius."

His glance had never been so firm. He nodded. "I know exactly how complicated this can be," his voice was steady and deep as he spoke.

"And we are the ones who are going to make this even more complicated for them," Rose said. Out of a sudden urgency that was born in her chest she held Scorpius' face with both of her hands, feeling his skin, wishing to have the rest of the day with him only.

Scorpius sighed. "My father will have to lighten up," he said. "But to be honest, he's not the one who worries me."

"My dad might have a heart attack," she whispered. "I told him we were friends, and nothing more, though."

"Then there's nothing wrong, is there? We're friends," Scorpius said, leaning his head once again. She tightened her grip on him, while he brushed her jaw line with his lips."

"I believe we're past that stage," she whispered, as she bit her lip softly.

"Really?" Scorpius hummed, his lips travelled to brush hers. But my intentions are friendly like. I just want to feed you chocolate drops all day long. Is that too bad?" He questioned, and she could feel a smirk in his voice.

"You do not."

"That's it, really."

"That's all you want from me," she said plainly.

"That's all."

"Swear on it," Rose dared. Scorpius pulled away, smiling widely. She returned the smile, and used her index to draw an imaginary line that went from his forehead, to his nose, to his lips. Their eyes got caught within seconds. If the circumstances were different she would have pulled him towards her by now, but she controlled those impulses, and played to draw lines over his face for the next minutes.

"Careful Weasley. I told you I'm not innocent, try not to tempt much."

Rose chuckled softly. "Yet, you won't tell me why you keep saying that," she scolded, softly but she knew the message had come across. Scorpius shortened the distance imposed by himself and kissed her forehead. An uncomfortable feeling invaded her stomach. How much longer would she have to wait for an explanation?

"Chocolate," he murmured. Rose frowned.

"What?" she asked in amusement.

He chuckled softly. "That's the third thing I smelled with the Armotentia potion. Salty breeze, leather gloves and chocolate. I had read and memorized the ingredients to that potion a long time ago, but I never brew it in my life. My first time was this year, like you. Crazy thing is that I was prepared to smell...your skin, your hair, your perfume, but I never thought I would smell chocolate."

Rose smiled, an unexplainable thrill invading her vanes.

"Wet soil, burning wood and...the essence of warm spices with soft critics," she lowered her eyes. "It's weird, I know, but the last one is new to me." She paused, raising her eyes at him. "And that's what your perfume smells like," she said. She had not finished speaking when he kissed her, and she was grateful for it. Her fingers dared to hold his hair tightly, pressing him against her. His hand found the space to caress her face, for as long as he wanted.

"I'm not letting you go," his rough voice murmured to her ear only minutes later. She closed her eyes, her chest had expanded infinitely. Words crossed her head, her soul. She wanted to explain so many things in such little time.

"I'm not going anywhere," was all she whispered back, and moved to press her lips against his jaw line. The mere movement made her uncomfortable, so she rested her head back on the pillow.

"It's hurting isn't it?" he asked her.

"It's just—very uncomfortable."

"Do you still have the slug ointment I prepared? It will erase that scar fast," he suggested. She nodded. "Any luck finding what was in it?"

Rose rolled her eyes at him. "Be quiet," she murmured. "I'll figure it out, don't worry." She heard the door to the Hospital wing opening. Scorpius stood up so fast, she didn't see him move at all. Again, he tucked his hands inside his pockets and drew distance between him and the bed.

When Rose turned around she saw her parents walking towards her. Her heart, which had already suffered enough emotions during the past days, stopped cold. She tried not to glance at Scorpius, just to avoid being too obvious.

They walked towards her with a smile on their faces. Hermione the bed in a fast move and kissed her forehead, sitting on the now popular empty side of the bed. "How do you feel?" she asked sweetly. Rose answered to calm her mum's worries, but she didn't miss Scorpius and her dad's greeting. She figured they had seen each other quite a lot during the past two days, because there wasn't any introduction involved.

"Mr. Weasley," he said, and stretched his arm to offer his hand to Rose's father. Ron stood still for a moment, staring at Scorpius, like studying his matters. Scorpius' behaviour was probable the most formal out there. Something he must have learned from his prestigious family.

"Scorpius," Ron ended up saying, as he shook the boy's hand tightly. "Seems like you spend a lot of time at the hospital wing lately."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "Scorpius was worried," Hermione explained. Rose looked at her mother, smiling shyly.

"I just wanted to make sure she was alright," Scorpius explained. "I'll leave you now, you must have a lot to talk about," Scorpius said. "Nice seeing you again Mrs. Weasley. See you later Rose," he said, directing her a warm smile. "Mr. Weasley," Scorpius shook Ron's hand one more time and left the room. Rose's dad stood still, looking at the man as he walked out.

"I'm so glad you're better," Hermione said, caressing the girl's face with the back of her hand. Rose smiled, but her eyes went straight to her dad, whose face was a complicated mixture of relief and sternness.

"I'm really sorry about the way I handled things. It was all a huge mistake."

"It doesn't really matter anymore, Rose. The important thing is that you are fine."

"I owe it all to Al and Scorpius."

"Since when are those two friends?" Ron asked her, turning his distraction into pure concentration.

"Ron," Hermione interrupted. "Albus already explained that. They bonded recently."

"Right," he sighed.

Rose bit her lips, clearly Hermione was trying to make the situation lighter for everybody, but it wasn't quite working, the tension in the environment was thick. Still, she acted like nothing was going wrong, and turned to look at Rose's neck, and the scar Scorpius had been staring at. She was beginning to think it was rather notorious, and at the moment she preferred not to look at it.

"I never thought you would have one of those," Hermione said sadly.

"It's alright. It'll heal soon. I'll put some slug ointment on it. You know, like the one you put on dad's wounds when he was injured during the Holidays.

"Oh," Hermione said, a wide smile spread on her lips. "Scorpius' medicine."

"What?" Ron asked sternly. Hermione turned to him.

"That's right honey, Rose's friend is quite the potion maker. That slug ointment is a miracle worker. You said so yourself."

Ron's expression was plain, while Hermione's was cheerful. "Listen, Rose, your dad wants to talk to you, so I'll leave you two alone," she explained, patting Rose's hand softly. "I'll bring you something to eat. Oh, and Hugo has been asking about you, so I'll tell him to come by later," she said, and leaned forward to kiss Rose's forehead again. "You and I can talk later," she smiled, and before she walked out of the room she stroked Ron's cheek sweetly. They exchanged quick glances, and Rose wondered if it was all a way to advice Ron to be calm about what he had to say. She became impatient within seconds.

Ron walked up to her, and contrary to what everybody else had done, he grabbed a chair and sat on it, close to the bed. Her heart shrunk to the size of a peanut. Indifference was the worst he could do to her. She knew it well, it was the same tool she used when she was angry at him.

She lowered her eyes, looking at the white sheets instead of him. She remained silent, it was better to let him speak first, for she had nothing good to say for herself. Ron pressed his fingers against his forehead, closing his eyes, massaging the tired skin of his face. Suddenly she noticed how tired he looked.

"So, you two are friends," he asked sharply. Rose nodded.

"We are. Scorpius is a good person," she explained. Ron looked at her. "If it weren't for him and Albus, I wouldn't even be here, dad."

"I'm aware of the fact, Rose," he said with a plain tone in his voice, examining the boxes of chocolates that were on the nightstand. "If there's something I'm aware of...is that I've never owed anything to a Malfoy, ever. It's always been the other way around," he said, directing a softer look this time. She understood then how hard it was for him.

"This isn't that kind of Malfoy, dad. He's different than them."

Ron chuckled, shaking his head. "Rose, he may seem that to you now but—"

"Wait. I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that I don't know him enough to trust him."

"I'm only suggesting you pick your friends wisely," he strictly said.

"Well, I have, dad. I trust him. He's not what you think of him. And I know I screwed up. I know I made a stupid mistake that almost cost me my own life, but it isn't his fault. You can be sure of that."

Ron remained silent. He then shook his head, and his eyes gave her a level of worry that broke what was left of her heart that day.

"You have a way of cracking my temper like no one else, you know that, Rose Weasley?"

"I know," she murmured. "I don't even know what drove me to that owlery. I just—"

"You went on your own looking for something you knew could be dangerous, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You were lucky they found you," he took his right hand to his face.

"Dad," she whispered with a small voice.

"You know, I always knew you'd inherit your mother's character. I'm proud of that, but you forgot to take her prudence with you as you did so."

Her eyes widened, and she bit her lips.

"Don't ever do that again, Rose Weasley." She nodded softly, her heart filled with relief. If that was the end of it she wouldn't complain. Ron leaned forward, to take her face inside his hand. "We're going to get that guy, I'm making sure of it."

"He's very disturbed dad, I could see it. He's completely lost."

"That only means he's even more dangerous for you."

"And he's very resentful of what happened between you and his father," she said, lowering her eyes. She couldn't get herself to be direct about it.

"Rose, it was an accident. It was him or me."

"I know. You wouldn't do that unless you had no other choice. I just—wished I had known about it, so it didn't take me by surprise like it did."

"Do you think the tales of a former Auror are of any good? You don't always have to know everything about everyone. Sometimes, it's actually best not to find out certain things," he wisely said, and Rose looked at him quickly. That was probably the strongest advice she had received from her father, knowing too much could become harmful. She had admitted herself to be hopelessly in love with Scorpius Malfoy, even if her lips couldn't still whisper it out. Maybe his dark details didn't matter. Of course, her father wasn't talking about Scorpius at all, but he didn't know the lengths his advice covered.

"I guess you're right," she agreed. Her father smiled pleased. "Still, dad, you're not joining the Auror department again, are you?"

Ron looked at her for a moment, his hand still held her face softly. "Do you know why I left the Auror department in the first place?"

"Yes, the shop was going through a crisis," she explained plainly. "You knew it was time to focus in the family business."

"That was one excuse," he smiled. "Everybody understood the Importance of that. But…I missed one of your birthdays that year, didn't I?"

"You did."

"It took me weeks after that to make the final decision, but I realized I never wanted you or Hugo to go through that again. I wanted more time with him, with your mum, and with you. You were growing up too fast. You were severe, proud, and sensible. I didn't even saw it until that day, and I realized I was missing the best part of your childhood. I wasn't going to let that happen, with you or Hugo." Rose's covered her father's hands with hers. "Being an Auror didn't mean as much as being your father," he continued. "But right now my family's safety comes first."

"What does mum think of this?"

"She knows why I'm doing it."

"But dad, you don't have to go back. There's people trained for that. Uncle Harry is perfectly capable of—"

"Rose, I'm not going to sit and wait until that man is in Azkaban. I'm going to put him there myself. The Auror department has enough to deal with right now, they are not going to attend this the way I am. Besides, Harry could use some help."

"They're conspiring," she remembered. Her conversation with Gerard came back to her. "There's a group of people conspiring against the Ministry."

"I know. We've known for months. And Gerard Hancock is only a small part of it."

"But I don't want you to get hurt again," she confessed. He laughed.

"Hurt? Me? No way that's going to happen."

She smiled, at her father's security. "Dad…"

"It's not!" he shrugged uninterestedly.

"Please, be careful."

Ron laughed softly, shaking his head at his daughter. "Look at you, I can't let anything like this happen to you again."

Rose's smile was small. She kissed the palm of his hand. She was aware of his overprotective behaviour, just like she was aware that she was the one responsible for her current condition. No one had to take the blame, and yet everyone seemed to be taking responsibility for it. Not Albus, not her dad, not even Scorpius had to feel at all guilty. She wondered, how long it would be until he found Gerard, or how long it would be until Gerard found her. Her smile faded, worried that it would be months, years even. Gerard was a patient man, he could hide himself until the right moment came. After all, this technique had worked for him the last time. She had gone to him. Rose closed her eyes tightly, a headache spreading rapidly. She wanted her mind to go blank again.

"Any big plans for these chocolate frogs?" Ron asked, taking a package and opening it.

"I love you dad," she whispered.

Artist: Dido

Lyrics:

_I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,  
Or tell you that.  
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it  
where's the sense in that?_

_I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder  
Or return to where we were_

_I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be_

_I know I left too much mess and  
destruction to come back again  
And I caused nothing but trouble  
I understand if you can't talk to me again  
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"  
then I'm sure that that makes sense_

_I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be_

_And when we meet  
Which I'm sure we will  
All that was there  
Will be there still  
I'll let it pass  
And hold my tongue  
And you will think  
That I've moved on..._

_I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be_

_I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be_

_I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be_


	15. Endlessly

_A/N: Please let me begin by saying that I won't be able to apologize enough for this awful, absurd delay in posting the last chapter. I moved from my home country twice in these two years, so it has been a very rocky ride. Nevertheless, thank you so much for your patience and your wonderful reviews. I'm sorry to those whom I didn't answer, I tried to answer them all but I'm sure I missed a few. I have a sequel prepared, so I hope you stick around to read it, if you're still interested. Again, I apologize. I hope you enjoy the closure to this part of the story and understand that it's a beginning for a new one. It's important to let you know that I have been editing this story to fix the grammar issues and some terrible writing. I recently corrected and replaced chapters 1,11,12,13 and 14, just so you know._

_To those of you who enjoy the song titles of this story, I have a little addition at the very end of this chapter (after the lyrics), concerning Scorpius. Please, please, please remember to leave a review! I promise it won't take long _

**Endlessly**

Rose left the Hospital Wing two days later, with the wound of her neck almost completely healed, the awful midnight headaches reduced to a minimal and a very light mark left on her silky skin that played the part of an unpleasant souvenir. She couldn't stop staring at it whenever she looked at herself in the mirror, wondering how long it would be before it disappeared.

With her eyes piercing their blue reflection, she thought of Gerard, of where he could be, and what he would be thinking now. She was turning desperate to know the magnitude of his anger towards Albus, towards Scorpius and most important: towards her father.

"Rose."

She startled, and turned around to look at Lily directly. Her cousin was standing under the doorframe of Rose's dormitory. "Are you alright? Albus sent me to look for you. He wanted to make sure you didn't miss breakfast."

"Yes, sure, I'm fine," she smiled vaguely. "Fine. Perfectly fine."

"That's too many fines in one sentence," Lily said melodiously, and walked up to her in small steps. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm guessing you haven't had time to think much about—"

"Believe me, I've had plenty of time," Rose cut in, lowering her eyes, just before she chose to turn around and face the mirror instead of Lily, to observe once more the cut that hadn't healed completely.

"Why is it still here?" she whispered and glanced at her cousin's reflection, who was looking at the same mirror over Rose's shoulder.

"I don't—Rose it must have been a powerful spell. Are you sure you don't want to talk?"

Rose shook her head, her eyes swimming in the glass of the mirror. "Want me to do your hair instead?" Lily randomly asked. Rose shrugged. Her cousin was shorter than her, but not by far. Rose stared at her through the reflection, contemplating her silence especially. Lily was braiding Rose's soft curls and wasn't looking at her as she did so.

"Are _you_ alright?" Rose asked the girl, who nodded shortly.

"Yes—just, Rose!" she said loudly, releasing her hair when it wasn't done. Rose had turned around, interrupting the moment, looking at Liliy's mortified eyes.

"What? What is it?" she demanded. Lily´s resistance was short.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know some guy was writing you those terror notes! I didn't! If I had I wouldn't have suggested that to Scorpius. I wouldn't have! I swear! I'm so sorry Rose!"

"Lily, it's fine," she shook her head.

"And he felt so bad about it, you have no idea what he looked like while you were unconscious in the Hospital Wing. And he wouldn't talk to anybody, and nobody would walk up to him, except for Al and me. It was just so sad to see him like that—I'm so sorry."

"Lily! this wasn't your fault."

"Just once I tried to talk to him, you know, to apologize, and the only thing he said back to me was how similar he was to this Gerard…man. Rose, he's not. He's nothing like that. He cares about you, I mean he never said much to me but I could tell. I really could, that's why I was so sure you two had a chance and I insisted him to— you know, to make things happen."

Rose chuckled. "Lily, you spend way too much time trying to fix other people's love life."

"But see? I wasn't wrong. You do have a chance together. You are perfect for each other, I can tell!"

"Lily, calm down."

"You're not upset with me for meddling in, are you? I know how reserved you are and all, but sometimes it's good to get a little help, you know?"

"I'm not upset," she promised plainly.

Lily sighed, apparently unconvinced. "Good. Now turn around so I can finish with your hair," she ordered.

Rose's first morning of regular classes went by slowly. Her interest on paying attention was very little. She didn't care about the academic world, she couldn't. It was impossible for her to stop thinking about Gerard, about how free and capable he was of doing anything he wanted. After a very quiet lunch she left the Great Hall with her two closest friends, who fortunately never talked about the incident, and as she walked down the school halls she saw a face she would recognize anywhere. Teddy Lupin, wide smile, black messy hair, and a sky blue shirt that made him look like a teenager.

"Teddy!" She threw her arms around his neck, the same way she did when she was a kid. Teddy hugged her back, strongly at first.

"You frightened everybody," he told her sweetly, before releasing her embrace. "Not me, though, I know you're too rough for that."

Rose smiled widely, "What are you doing here?"

"I believe I'm working," he said with a small, rather suspicious sigh. "I'm here to interview you."

"What?" she dryly said. "Oh no. Forget it."

Teddy chuckled. "I imagined that much, but come on, just a few facts. The Prophet wants you. That's big deal, huh?" he insisted, smiling too innocently to believe.

"I don't care," she insisted. "I'm not going to be more humiliated than I already am."

Teddy shook his head, and threw his right arm over her. In less than five seconds she was walking down the hall with him. She turned around to check on Albus and Anya, she was laughing shyly at some comment Albus had just made. Noticing how unimportant Rose had suddenly become in their conversation, she decided to leave with Teddy and no regrets.

They went into the nearest empty classroom, and with a secure smile she saw him taking out a pen and a small notebook. He set both of them on one of the students' empty desks, and stared at her intently.

"I'm not going to be interviewed by you," she insisted firmly. Teddy smiled.

"You, Miss Rose Weasley, are becoming one of the hottest stories of the year. It's been a while since my boss has been this urgent about something. I'm in plenty of disadvantage here. As your cousin I can't return to my boss empty handed," he flashed a smile at her, his long, black locks covering his face. Rose frowned, taking her fingertips to caress her soaring forehead.

"How does the Prophet know about this?" she asked, biting her lower lip fully.

"Rose, if the school knows, the parents know, and you can take it from there."

"Brilliant," she mumbled.

"Don't suffer it! You're famous," he teased, closing his hand in a fist to hit her cheek softly. "It'll be fine."

"It's embarrassing Teddy. I went after my own stalker, alone! How stupid was I? And now everybody knows about it. I'm worst than those women that get attacked for going alone into dark alleys," Rose confessed in severe shame. Teddy, on the other hand smiled softly.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. What's with you Weasley women and your obsession with what people think? Who the hell cares? You handled it, and best of all: you got out of it alive! You're sixteen, you're allowed to do stupid things now and then." She frowned even harder, and he chuckled. "Oh, I get it, the problem is that Miss Perfection here isn't entitled to one mistake."

"Shut up," she ordered. "I'm not Miss Perfection," Rose announced weakly. Somehow, it sounded like a familiar discussion she had had with Scorpius.

"It's true. You can do no wrong, or at least that's what you've made us believe all these years."

"Teddy! Stop! You're being evil!" she punched him.

"I'm not! I'm impressed! I love this new side of you."

"Right, that's because you have a thing for trouble girls," she rolled her eyes.

"Correction. A thing for _one_ trouble girl," he retorted, smiling fully, Rose shook her head. "That cousin of yours can be a handful, but…" he smiled again, shrugging. Ever since she could remember Teddy had been her role model. She admired his writing skills, his good humour, his perspective towards life, his metamorphic abilities, and especially the way he adored Victoire.

Hermione enjoyed telling Rose about how difficult she had been to babysit when she was little, and how during a phase she would only allow Teddy to watch over her. As a result, and over the years, Teddy had become the one person she never felt intimidated to go to when searching for advice. He was kind, easy going, and had a gift for understanding almost anything. Not to mention his ability to get information out of her.

She stopped smiling. Her eyes, somehow had locked. Somewhere, between Teddy's relationship and her own, her mind had stopped to wonder many things at the very same time. Faster than she imagined, Teddy had noticed, and had approached her.

"What is it?" he inquired.

"How is it that you two are even compatible? I mean, don't get me wrong. I love you with Victoire, but how do you make it work? You're so different," she pointed out. "_You_ are…you know, steady, easy going, and she is...a bit mental at times."

Teddy looked at her suspiciously, his brown eyes soft but curious. "Huh, I'm guessing you're not just asking that," he frowned. "Is Scorpius Malfoy giving you a hard time?"

She stared at him intently. "No."

"He was with Al when he saved you."

"He was," she breathed in. "Teddy, it's just that, he is so different from anyone I've known, ever. I just—I have no idea what's going to happen. My dad doesn't know, and everybody has such an awful opinion of him, it's not even fair. I believe in him Teddy, and I know he's this amazing person, but then he says these things, like he deserves every single word that has been said about him. I don't believe that, but everything about him seems so uncertain at times."

"Seems to me like he's into you," he said. "And I don't think you would have gone through all this trouble for any bloke."

Rose chuckled, lowering her eyes. "Teddy," she waited. "I um—I haven't told him just how strongly I feel for him." She knew she was blushing, but looked at him again.

"Why? Scared of saying it out loud?" he asked, and at first she thought he was joking, but she soon found that he was asking a very serious and maybe even important question. She gave herself into thought.

"Maybe," she said, shrugging softly.

"Maybe when you say it out loud, there will be no turning back," Teddy said.

"I guess."

"Thing is, that you are already admitting it Rose, and it's exactly like last Christmas. You went to the Prophet looking for reasons to stop yourself. Well, you can look all you want, you're not going to find anything to make what you feel go away," he said, standing in front of her. She looked at his hazel eyes, and nodded softly. "You asked me how it is that Victoire and I are so compatible when we're so different. Well," he shrugged. "I don't know. I never knew, and to be honest I stopped wondering years ago. I really hope I never figure it out. I mean, you may think it was easier for us because we grew up together, but it wasn't. It still isn't." He smiled, a half smile. "I remember the day I realized I had fallen for her, but I don't know and I'll never know when I started to feel any of those things. Maybe when I was seventeen, maybe when I was five, I'll never know."

"But you two trust each other. You know each other since you were kids. You know she'll never hurt you, in my case—"

"See. That's where you're wrong. That's not love. Knowing the other person is not capable of hurting you? Is that what you're looking for? That's not remotely close to love." Teddy sighed strongly. "Rose, from the moment I started dating Victoire I was sure of one thing: that she could break me to pieces if she wanted to."

"But she adores you! She always has— I mean, the way she looks at you—"

"I know that now. But back then I knew those two years of difference between us were going to make it hard at some point. You know how she can be at times: inconstant, unpredictable, immature, she's a bit wild, and that issue she has with commitment—" he rolled his eyes. "It's stupid. I knew that was going to backfire at me."

"She _had_ an issue with commitment," Rose corrected, but Teddy didn't seem to pay attention. He continued.

"I ignored all that, and thank Merlin I did! But, she still left to France for two years."

"Teddy—"

"I know! I'm not blaming it on her at all. I even encouraged it, I know I was the one who made her go, then things got too complicated and we broke it off. And Rose, _that's_ when I knew. If that had never happened I wouldn't have been sure that she is the only woman capable of making me feel this way. There's no one else."

Rose looked at him, deeply. Was pain what it took to realize how much you loved a person? She didn't think she needed that. She knew. No matter how hidden it was to Scorpius.

"Rose, my point is that love doesn't mean knowing that the other person can't hurt you, it's the entire opposite. It's knowing exactly how much damage they can cause, but still giving in. Trust and confidence is something you have to build for yourself, with the other person's help of course. But love won't give you any of that."

She exhaled heavily. "That sounds complicated," she whispered and Teddy smiled.

"But it's true. One question, though. You said she _had_ an issue with commitment. What did you mean by that?" Teddy raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing," she hesitated.

"Rose, have you been talking to Victoire?"

"No!" she lied, recalling immediately their talk at the Department of Mysteries. "I was just thinking, why in the world aren't you two married yet?"

"Why else? She doesn't want to. I'm not going to push her into it. She knows my position, she knows I'd marry her this afternoon. If she changes her mind all she has to do is—"

"What? Tell you?"

"Of course!" he reacted. Rose laughed softly, realizing that pride was on both sides of the relationship.

"Wouldn't that be like Proposing? That sounds like Victoire," she said in sarcasm.

"It wouldn't be proposing, but I won't bring marriage into the table again unless I see that she's changed her mind about it."

"Maybe you should look harder," she mumbled.

"Why?" He raised his eyebrow.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "So? When are you going to interview me for the Prophet?" She asked him, to change the subject, following Scorpius' sharpest evasive style.

"I thought you didn't want to be in the Prophet."

"Actually, if there's going to be articles about me in the papers, then I prefer something written by you than a destructive piece where a journalist I don't even know tells people just how stupid I behaved."

Teddy laughed. "No one's writing that about you. To the papers you'll either be a victim or a heroine," he mocked her. "So, which parts am I allowed to publish?" Teddy then asked, right before he pulled a golden pen out of his left pocket.

"The part where I broke an oil lamp on his head," she smiled.

In less than a week things began to come back to normal at Hogwarts. Students returned to their regular duties, except when Rose and Albus walked past them. Every time she entered a room she had to witness a second or two of uncomfortable silence. Since she came back to her regular activities, she had been very intrinsic about her entire adventure. She vaguely answered her classmates' questions. The situation drove Rose crazy, while Albus had managed to ignore everybody. He suggested her to do the same and Rose wished she could have her cousin's patience to ignore the look others gave her.

The person who surprised her the most was of course, Scorpius. While Albus worked on ignoring their noisy classmates, Scorpius' methods were natural and even challenging. During that week, whenever they met after class he would approach her with absolutely no self-consciousness, kissed her or gave her a demonstration of affection that made her believe that no one was ever looking, when actually, everybody was. He did not care about her warnings of James, and of course had absolutely no interest in the gossiping that was developing behind their backs.

"I can't get used to all of this. It's annoying, really," she told him hastily, one afternoon as he walked her to Herbology class. "Albus is really calm about it. He's been dealing with extra attention since he was a kid, and he does it well. I've been in everybody's lips for the last week and I really can't stand it. The last thing I heard was that I fought against four dark wizards at the owlery, while Albus had to use the Cruciatus curse on Gerard to free me.

A small sound came roughly out of his throat. "Cruciatus," he murmured. "Nice touch," he added, releasing his grip from her hand and stopping right in front of her, only a few yards away from the Greenhouse. "Here you are."

"But you," she continued. "You almost pretend like nobody exists. How do you even do it?"

Scorpius laughed shortly, shaking his head. "It's not that hard," he shrugged. "At some point in my life I began to stop watching, listening. I just stopped."

"You just stopped?" she inquired.

"Yes. People are scared of me, which is actually a pretty great thing because no one dares to piss me off."

"Is that what you want? For people to stay away from you?"

"The unpleasant people. Yes."

"How can you tell? There's also wonderful people. "

He took a step forward, standing rather close to her. "That's the beauty of it. I like to discover them in the right moments."

She breathed in. "I see," she whispered.

Scorpius smiled, and placed his hands on the sides of her waist, making her chest incinerate. "I bet I was the bad guy in those stories you've heard this week," he said, almost proudly. Rose raised her eyebrow.

"Maybe," she hesitated. "But you like it, don't you? You actually love coming off as the bad guy."

"Don't be ridiculous," he chuckled with a wide grin, and leaned down rapidly to brush her lips with his.

"I'm not being ridiculous," she told him. "I did hear some silly stuff, though. One was of you secretly being on Gerard's side." She saw him smiling. "And that you two were family," Scorpius' smile faded. He stared intently into her eyes but somehow that wasn't enough, and she was sure he could tell she needed more.

"What do you really want to know?" he asked her, with a rather serious face.

"We're about to begin here," Neville Longbottom said, standing under the door to the Greenhouse, ready to close it.

Scorpius released his embrace, and Rose let out a small but very annoyed hum. "I guess I'll see you later," she hastily said, and was ready to turn around when he took her face gently, but firmly.

"I'll meet you after class, at our place, alright? We can talk there."

Rose nodded, releasing a small smile, and finally turned towards the greenhouse.

After a rather encouraging Herbology class, where Neville congratulated Rose and Albus for having a perfectly grown Mimbulus "Mindy" Mimbletonia, she exited the greenhouse with Albus, with only one encounter in her thoughts.

But she ran into Anya while walking back to the castle. It was impressive how much time Anya spent with them lately. Rose wasn't sure if she was finally trying to approach Albus, because she was still too shy to demonstrate any kind of affection towards him. Nevertheless, her interest was obvious, at least to Rose, who frequently saw her nodding to anything Albus said and smiling to every single one of his smiles. She had to wonder if that was what she looked like whenever she listened to Scorpius.

They entered Hogwarts, and Rose noted how Albus' eyes turned to Annemarie, who was crossing the hall at that very instant. He stopped walking, and stood firmly. Rose observed them exchanging glances, and Anya staring intently at the entire picture.

Albus seemed to snap out of the situation in a matter of seconds, and entered a profound silence.

"Are you alright?" Rose questioned.

"I'm brilliant," Albus nodded. "What about you?" He turned the subject towards her, and she suddenly realized that she had broken the beautiful silence that had maintained the harmony between the two of them. There had been no inquiries or judgements on either side for the past days, but that was only because they had not spoken about the past events.

"Fine, I guess," she weakly answered, thinking in a rush of a random comment to fill her answer. But nothing trivial came to mind.

"I heard your dad officially returned to the Auror department," Anya intervened. It wasn't how Rose had expected to change the subject, but at least she wouldn't have to talk about Scorpius or Gerard. She nodded weakly.

"I'm afraid he has."

"You gotta admit, you saw it coming," Albus said. Rose turned her eyes at him.

"I don't think I did," she answered, straightforward, disappointed in her own judgement. "Now I think I should have. He has been working there for the past months, but I thought it would end faster."

"It's pretty serious," said Albus. "When it all began they were after a few old, rusty deatheaters. Now it's an entire plot that has been evolving for years, with insiders in the Ministry of Magic, and probably in Azkaban. If they're as organized as we think they are, this could take years!"

"Thanks Al, that's encouraging," Rose sighed, too loud, too heavy.

"They'll catch him soon, Rose," Anya softly said, placing her small hand over Rose's shoulder. In some ways Rose loved Anya's optimism and sweet nature. In others, she thought her naïve.

"It's not even him, I mean—It's not only him." She stopped walking. "How do you handle it, Al? How do you not go mad thinking that uncle Harry might be in the worst danger, night after night, after night—"

"Alright. I got the picture. Thanks," he cut her off plainly. "Lovely."

"I'm sorry. I just admire you, I guess. I don't know how I'll handle this. It's my father. I didn't think I'd ever have to be scared for him in this way."

"That's the point, Rose. You don't handle it. You can't do anything about it," he declared. Rose found the statement plain and of no use at all. She gave him a note of silence, and it wasn't long before he realized her discomfort. He looked down for a few short seconds before raising his head to see her again.

"I remember how much you used to worry about him, Al. I didn't forget," she told him with a plain tone of voice. He sighed.

"I know. What can I say? I…got used to it," Albus shrugged and this time Rose felt a trace of resentful honesty. "Listen, I guess it's easier for me now because I grew up with it. I know I can't tell you to stop worrying about uncle Ron, so just take it one day at a time. Don't put so much thought into it, and maybe…it'll be over faster than you can imagine."

"He's right, Rose," Anya said. "Nothing good can come out of worrying that much, you'll see. Nothing will happen to him." Rose turned to look at her friends one more time. Of all her flaws and virtues, she had no idea if the ability to accept the inevitable was one of her character traces. She suddenly realized that she had spent way too much time talking to them, and she was supposed to be heading back to the spot by the lake where Scorpius was probably already waiting.

"Anyway, I have to go," she absently declared. "I'll catch you at dinner? Is that alright?"

"Go on," Albus shrugged, uninterested, and took off with Anya before she did. In many ways it was nice to feel that Albus had disconnected himself from his previous disgust with Scorpius.

As she had imagined, Scorpius was waiting for her, sitting on the ground, his back against the tree that stood in front of the black, quiet lake. The afternoon was still, lonely, and most definitely lazy.

"Sorry I'm late," she smiled and threw her bag on the ground. He glanced up and contemplated her as she sat next to him. The moment she sat down she felt the urge of saying something, anything that would avoid an uncomfortable silence between them.

"Are you ready for the match this Saturday?" she asked, in a tone so careless that sounded fake. His first response was a patient smile.

"I am," he answered with what sounded like a small chuckle.

"What?" she reacted instantly, and his soft, hoarse laugh was heard again.

"Nothing," he shook his head slowly. "Are we out of topics? Or are you uncomfortable?"

Rose stared at him for a few seconds. "Well, you don't talk much, do you? So it's either random conversation or snogging all afternoon," she retorted, and immediately recognized bitterness in her own words. Scorpius' eyes widened slightly and momentarily, soon a half smile occupied his lips as he raised his eyebrow at her.

"I'm guessing that's a reproach more than a proposal," he laughed softly again, and his patience began to annoy her. They had already been through a very big deal of things together. She was not going to act as if nothing had happened, not with him. He was the only person whose opinion mattered at the moment. It was him she didn't understand and it was he who had her completely intrigued. He seemed too steady for everything that had happened, as if nothing had made a world of difference.

"It's not that I don't talk much what bothers you, is it? He asked plainly, driving his fingertips to pull a loose lock behind her ear. The skin of her cheek trembled a little. "It's the deal of things you want to know."

Rose pressed her lips together, strongly. She breathed in, as much as she tried to maintain composure, it was always despair what ended up taking the best of her character. "I'm asking too much from you," she whispered looking at the lake, instead of him.

"No. You aren't," he said quietly. This time Rose turned her head towards him to find that he was looking at the lake as well. His face plain, serious. They had broken the sweet enigma of kisses and no explanations, but she didn't regret it, her mind couldn't live in that stage eternally. "What do you want to know?" He asked, and Rose recalled this question early on their relationship.

"I don't know where to begin," she chuckled, mocking her own anxiety. "I've been asking myself so many questions I forgot which ones where important."

"You should become a journalist," he said, turning to look at her with a witty half smile. Rose shook her head.

"I don't think so," she chuckled dryly. "I guess, the place to begin is at my house. Remember? You visited me with something important to say, and then suddenly completely forgot about it. And don't say that—wait a minute," she interrupted herself abruptly. "My house. You were at my house and I never gave you my address. The house had a protective spell, and—I completely forgot about that! How did you ever get there?"

"Lily," Scorpius plainly said, shrugging his right shoulder.

"It couldn't have been Lily. The protection only broke when one of us gave the address away. Lily couldn't have broken it. I found that out during the holidays. I didn't even know."

"Yes, we did figure out that one eventually. She gave me your address and when I went to visit you I wound up in an open field. I figured you had a protection over your house and that's when I realized how serious your parents where being about your safety."

"And how did you get there?"

"I went back to my house, wrote to Lily and she offered to take me there."

"Oh," she whispered in realization.

"She actually had to hold my wrist to your house, otherwise I would end up in the field again," he explained. "I assumed your parents didn't want to alarm you or your cousins, that would explain why they were still able to apparate on your front door."

"Anyway, I'm sure that's over by now," she said through a sigh. "Dad will reinforce that house as much as he can."

"I'll manage," he smiled proudly.

"Is that so? You can't relay on Lily anymore," she raised her eyebrow, and Scorpius bent down a few inches to brush her cheek with his forehead.

"Too bad," he kissed her softly, and Rose was already getting used to the fervent feeling of his lips against her skin, when he pulled away. "I have to admit that she was very helpful," he grinned.

"Well, She can really meddle in people's life easily."

He stared at her firmly before speaking again, like trying to make something out of her voice or her face. "Remember that night you saw us talking in the hallway. It was late."

"Yes," she hissed.

"The next morning she stopped me on my way to charms to tell me you had flipped out." He was poorly hiding his proud smile, and that fact gave Rose a cold rush through her stomach.

"I did not flip out! I didn't—I mean, I was concerned for her. I—" She stopped and breathed in. "I did not flip out." Scorpius' laugh was soft but a hint of mockery flooded upon it.

"Insanely jealous. Those were her exact words. And according to Lily, that was a wonderful sign!" He laughed quietly, and Rose's chest burned harshly.

"Ok, let's get a few things straight. I wasn't jealous, I did not flip out and Lily is ridiculous," Rose numbered each statement with her fingers, and Scorpius maintained a steady smile that both amused and insulted her a little. She sighed as she concluded hat he wasn't interested in her explanation. "I guess you're taking her side."

"I'm just quoting," he said, with a raspy voice that killed her indignation. She gave him a half smile and lowered her eyes to the ground. Scorpius was quick to take her chin, so her eyes would meet his. "I was going to tell you about the letters," he explained in a whisper. "But, it was too embarrassing. I had been taking the advice from a girl two years younger than me, and at that very moment I felt like a git. What if you thought me a complete airhead? I had realized that maybe it was best to leave it unsaid, just to make sure you didn't think of me as an idiot."

"You were being silly," she said, and took the hand that had been holding her chin. She removed the embrace away from her and bit her lip gently. "And you're still being silly. There was something disturbing you. You admitted so when I was recovering at the hospital wing." She had hoped he would voluntarily explain to her the reason for his unsure behaviour, but now she knew that one thing had not changed with the past events: Scorpius' mysterious behaviour. She hated the idea of having to question him, but he didn't seem to be opening up any time soon.

"Rose," He whispered and her eyes drifted towards his immediately. She wondered at that moment if maybe the effect he had on her was so obvious that he used it to his advantage. Then again, she couldn't blame him. "Since the moment I started seeing you differently I convinced myself that being with you would have been very…unpractical."

"That's one way to put it," she chuckled softly.

"It's the truth, but once I decided to get close to you, things got complicated, especially when I realized I had a chance." Her eyes fixated on his, she twisted her mouth and transformed her expression into a repressed grin.

"A little chance," she teased him, to which he laughed.

"Yes, well, whatever it was I saw it, and Lily. Problem was that as much as I liked being close to you, our situation never stopped from being problematic."

"Problematic!" She retorted with a laugh that was turning flirtatious. "Why do I suspect this has something to do with me?"

He smiled widely, and brushed the bare skin of her arm with the back of his hand. "That's the thing, everything had to do with you." The words rushed down Rose's spine like playful tunes.

"Was it your family?" she inquired, knowing for various reasons that it wouldn't be the only reason.

"Yes, but not always in the ways you imagined. I made it clear to you from the beginning that being with you would upset the hell out of my family, didn't I? I meant it, as I also meant it when I said that I didn't care. If anything, I would enjoy the look on Lucius' face. But later I realized that I was not just messing with my family, I was messing with yours and, most important, I was messing with you. It hit me then how much of an arse I was being."

Rose looked down, at his hand still caressing her arm. She moved her own hand to take his and tightened her grip, their warm palms strongly pressed against one another. "I don't see what you see. If their approval doesn't matter to you, what's the big deal?"

Scorpius tightened the grip for a moment. "Why don't you understand that there are people in my family capable of causing damage if they need to?"

"I though that had been a long time ago. Things are different now, aren't they?"

"Rose, you live in a world where everything is possible. You think people are naturally good and everything can be solved somehow. You come from a family that believes in justice. You don't see…that some people will never change."

"I never said anything like that."

"But you can't see that some things are the way they are, and some people have the lives they have, and that's it. There's no way to change it. You can't fight it, just punish it."

"Scorpius, why don't you tell me what's really going on," she said sternly.

"Rose…"

"What is it?" She insisted, fearing that she was putting too much pressure on the situation, on him. From what she knew of Scorpius Malfoy up to that moment, he could close up completely when feeling attacked and refuse to say a word for the rest of the day.

"I think my family may be involved in this," he declared in a rush. She heard the words dry and clear, but didn't understand them until a few seconds had passed. Rose dropped her gaze. She could hear the afternoon birds chirping closely. She looked at him again.

"How involved?" her low voice cracked.

"I have absolutely no idea," he admitted. She studied his eyes momentarily and got nothing more than angst out of them. "I don't think they're involved with what happened to you. I suspect it's got something to do with Rodolphus Lestrange and the rest of the fugitives who broke out of Azkaban." Rose sighed strongly, suddenly very tense, while Scorpius looked at their intertwined hands. "They've been acting strange. I noticed during the holidays. I don't know what it is but—I really don't think it has something to do with you. I just can't prove it. But you do understand how serious this would be? Don't you?"

"Of course I do."

Scorpius rested his head against the tree, shutting his eyes. She contemplated him breathing in, slowly, and out, just as slow. His eyes opened and he looked at her again. She had no more to say at that moment. Sure, she could ask him thousands of questions, but none of them made sense in her head.

"I know I may be asking for a lot, but I don't have proof, I don't have anything—"

"I won't tell anyone," she rushed herself to say. "You don't have to worry about that."

They sat in silence. If that was the case, and the Malfoy family was involved in a plot against the Ministry of Magic, just like her parents thought, just like Scorpius suspected, then their relationship would be many levels beyond complicated, or unpractical. Their relationship would be dangerous for one of them, most likely her.

"I have to give it a shot," he whispered, and Rose woke from her small absence. "I have to figure out what goes on in the house."

"You could get in plenty of trouble," Rose whispered back, still remotely absent.

"Not more than what you got into," he laughed, releasing her hand now and throwing his arm over her shoulders, wrapping her tightly. Rose didn't hold back the smile and rested her head on his chest, breathing in his scent, so strong, deep, wonderful.

"Your family must think we're monsters," she heard him say. She repressed a sigh.

"They don't think that," her voice was plain and weak. There wasn't much she could do anymore to pretend that things didn't affect her.

"And they wouldn't be completely wrong. If there's a possibility that my family is involved with what happened to you, then your parents would be right. We are monsters."

"Stop. My parents have never called you that. Just—And that wouldn't include you, or your entire family. You're being too hard on yourself."

"My grandfather shouldn't know about us, at least for a while," he added I absence.

"Ok…but your parents saw us at Kings Cross," she pointed out. "Don't they suspect anything?"

Scorpius sighed heavily. "That same day my father asked me a few questions. I told him you were helping me out with Muggle Studies," he smiled at his own anecdote. "The entire thing upset him enough to stop asking me about you. And my mother…she told me you were very pretty."

"She did?" Rose smiled, while Scorpius lowered his gaze to contemplate the bare skin of her bended knee. "And what did you say?" she inquired, with a melodious tone of voice. Scorpius raised his gaze and looked at her again.

"I think I said something like…she's alright."

"Alright," she frowned immediately, twisting her lips in disappointment.

"I knew you would love it," he laughed. "I didn't want to catch their attention."

"Maybe you're exaggerating," Rose said cheerfully. "Maybe there's nothing going on, and you have been jumping into wrong conclusions." Scorpius looked at her intently, for no more than a few seconds. He said nothing, but pressed his lips softly against her forehead. Rose understood the gesture, and felt discouraged, naïve even.

"I almost forgot," he said once the kiss was over. "I brought you something." He bent towards his bag and opened it in a few quick moves. From inside he pulled a brownish white envelope, its paper old and broken on the edges. Scorpius opened it and pulled out a small pack of photographs.

"I looked for them during the holidays. You said you wanted to see my grandparents. This is her, my grandmother on my mother's side." Rose took the first picture, a portrait of a young woman, her face slim, and round green eyes. Her long, dirty blond hair fell like silk all the way down to her waist. She was sitting on the sand of a beach. She smiled and sometimes even laughed, like holding a private conversation with whoever was taking the picture. Rose stared at her mouth for a few seconds, and then looked up at Scorpius.

"You have her mouth," Rose said. Scorpius frowned.

"Do I?"

"I think so," she smiled. "She was very beautiful."

"My grandfather and her had just married, a few years before he took that picture." Scorpius searched through the small pack and handed her another photograph. "And this is one of them about six years ago," he explained. Rose took the picture and saw the same woman, whose hair was still silky and long, but this time it looked silver rather than blond and it was neatly pulled back. She wore small rounded glasses and smiled at the camera, while holding the hand of the man sitting next to her. He was much taller than her, his eyes were a strong shade of brown. The man smiled politely at the camera, sometimes turning to see his wife. "I took that one," Scorpius explained, contemplating the picture. "They knew how to keep each other company."

Rose smiled warmly. "They seemed happy. You must really miss them." Scorpius nodded softly.

"I spent a great deal of time at their house by the shore," he absently said.

Rose looked at him, and she knew her glance was heavy. Scorpius smiled, his eyes still staring at the picture. "I also spent an entire summer there once. I had a…difference of opinions with my Grandfather, which turned into an awful fight with my father. It was the same night I returned from Hogwarts, after our second year of school," he sighed, looking now at the ground. "I don't even remember how it begun but I remember questioning Lucius, asking him why he was still living in the dark. It got quite tense during dinner. He ended up telling me that my head had been poisoned by my mediocre professors and my—" He looked at Rose. She stared back at him in silence. "And my mudblood friends."

Rose blinked, and pressed her lips together. "What friends was he talking about?"

"Thomas. His mother is a wizard. His father, though, is a muggle."

"Really? I don't think I knew that. That's a bit odd for a Slytherin, isn't it?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Not really. Most of the Slytherins are not a hundred percent purebloods, although everybody assumes they are. It's one of the myths of our house. Take Rita Halward, for example. Remember her? She graduated last year. She and her sister are muggleborns."

"I do remember that," Rose shrugged.

"And my friend Jasmine, you met her at the party," Rose nodded softly. "Her mother is a muggleborn and her father a wizard, from a long line of Slytherins."

"Still, neither of your friends are muggleborns per se, they're halfbloods at the most."

"It didn't matter to Lucius. He said the good name of Slytherin was being slaughtered. What he doesn't care to understand is that if Slytherin were to accept purebloods only, then it would be three or four students in our house, at the most."

"I suppose you're right. Things have changed a lot since the war, that's what everybody says. But, don't you think it's difficult for your grandfather to accept so many changes?"

"Call it what you want, Rose. But the idea of muggles and wizards mixing, and compromising the purity of the blood is something Lucius does not allow," Scorpius stated, through a stern whisper, and in a way, she felt that his words were nothing more than a quotation. "That night he realized how strongly I disagreed with him, you can imagine his anger. He wanted to know since when I had had those stupid ideas in my head. He didn't know that it took me almost two years of school to understand the way things really where, how wrong I had been, and that everything he had taught was rubbish, very dangerous rubbish."

"You said that?" Rose said, her voice low and soft.

Scorpius sighed heavily, caressing her hand with the tip of his fingers, his eyes low, like staring at the skin he was touching. "I said a lot of things that night. I even told him all the things I had found out about our family since I entered Hogwarts, all the awful things he had managed to hide. So, he accused me of betraying my traditions, my family, I think he even talked about my honour," a chuckle escaped his throat when he said the last word. "Like he has one. At some point we got very aggressive with each other, and that's when my father stepped in. He's never really had a major opinion on the subject, very little I've heard him talking about it. It's almost as if he left that part to Lucius. So, that night all he wanted was for me to show my grandfather some respect." Scorpius stopped speaking, and Rose waited as patiently as she could for him to begin again. "That's when I said that I would never show respect for a man like him, a coward," Scorpius laughed, as if mocking his own self. He shook his head to the sides. "I know…I can be a bit radical with my position."

"Wow," Rose weakly whispered, her eyes staring blankly at his face. "That must have been—very hard."

Scorpius shrugged again. "I don't know. I think I had to say it, I had to say something. Anyway, my fight with Lucius became a huge fight with both of them. I have a vague memory of my grandmother Narcissa and my mother, both sitting quietly at the dinner table. I can't remember their faces, though. After a while Lucius made it clear, that the only solution was for me to change schools."

Rose cleared her throat. "It sounds like he has a lot of power in your family." He looked at her, smiling proudly.

"That's exactly how it sounds, and that's exactly what it isn't. He's an old man, who lost everything, even his family's respect. My mother jumped the second he spoke of sending me to another school. According to him, he never supported that I went to Hogwarts in the first place. But my mother didn't allow me to go anywhere else, and that night she made it clear that I wasn't leaving Hogwarts, unless I decided differently." Rose's eyes widened. She had never met Lucius Malfoy in person, but from what she knew of him and how she had pictured him in her head, she immediately admired the character of a woman strong enough to stand up to him.

"It's a good thing you have your parents on your side."

"Just my mother, my father's opinion is…not always there."

"Is that why you call your grandfather by his name? It's a bit cold."

"More or less. If it were up to him, I'm sure he would ban me from the family. So, I chose to think I already banned him from mine," he winked at her, and Rose felt utterly confused. She was clearly proud of Scorpius' character and principles, but couldn't help on noticing how much resentment he was carrying, although she could hardly blame him for it. "Things became very tense that night, so I left to my grandparents' house and stayed there, almost the entire summer. After that I left to Hogwarts, and to make my point a little clearer I took Muggle studies."

Rose laughed softly, shaking her head in disapproval. "That's a war declaration." He smiled back.

"It's a good thing I had Tom and Jasmine."

"That's why you've changed so much, because of your friends."

"Yes, and you've met them. You know they are both pretty straightforward. Jasmine and I had huge fights the first year. She really pulled my feet back to the ground, in a very harsh way, but still, I deserved it. I was an ignorant git."

"It really wasn't your fault."

"Tom was different. He always tried to reason with me. Eventually I learned, and ended up despising everything I had known up to that moment. It's a funny thing, I can say I've been brainwashed twice in my life. Once by my grandfather, the second time by my friends." A small, bitter laugh escaped his throat.

"You've had it hard."

He smiled softly again. "No, it's alright. No big deal. Things haven't been the same when I'm around the manor. Only a few times has Lucius tried to talk some sense into me. It's sad, really. Sometimes I think he had high hopes for me," he explained, his voice distant.

"Do you really think your grandfather would be capable of involving himself in all that has been going on?"

"I don't know. From what I've learned he's a weak coward, so maybe he isn't capable. But I'm telling you, things got very strange during the holidays and I would prefer to suspect from him, instead of trusting him again. He was a deatheater, Rose."

"He claimed he was forced into it."

"Well, he wasn't, and I'm sure your father would agree with me."

"What about _your_ father?" Rose asked softly. Scorpius shook his head.

"Nothing about him. It's humiliating, the things I had to learn of his life. He never really took a position with me, though. It was like he never agreed or disagreed with my grandfather. Maybe he's still scared of him, I don't know."

"Maybe he's just tired," Rose whispered, and Scorpius looked at her intently.

"Perhaps," he shrugged at her. "It was Jasmine the one who told me the things he did—or almost did—during the war."

"She did that?"

"I told you she had been harsh. She has reasons, though. Her mother, Susannah, was only 12 years old during the war and suffered a lot from it. You know, being a muggleborn and all."

"So she was at Hogwarts, when the battle broke."

"Yes. Susannah's brother was also a wizard, worked at the Ministry at that moment. He disappeared and was never found. The Ministry probably got rid of him during the trials, when they sorted out the muggleborns. Susannah was already an orphan, her older brother was the only person she had, and when the battle broke, she was left alone. After it all ended she finished school and married very young, but she never really recovered."

"It's so sad, there are so many stories like that."

"Jasmine worked her way into proving to me the things my family had done, including my father." Rose frowned, grabbing Scorpius' hand tightly. "Don't worry, it's something I had to find out. I couldn't go on forever believing that our family had been victims during the war."

Rose remembered the night she met Jasmine, how she dared Scorpius to show her a death mark that was not there, for the only purpose of scaring her. Now that she knew all this, she certainly didn't understand how Jasmine could have joked about something like that. "I'm surprised Jasmine got sorted into Slytherin," she mentioned.

"Oh, she's a Slytherin, alright. Her father was, and she makes the most out of our house's traces. She's cunning for sure, and you saw her dark sense of humour, worst than mine. It's as if she weren't scared of anything, not her friends or enemies. Her mother's hard past doesn't upset her, she actually uses it to feel stronger. She's absolutely radical, and she believes that everything horrible that happened in the past should be remembered by every Slytherin, as a warning of what people are capable of doing. She doesn't believe in the purity of blood, she knows it's a myth and that it has nothing to do with how great the wizard can be, and she's determined to prove it. It's thanks to her persistence that I started seeing things differently, until I understood how wrong I had been. Once she felt that I was on her side she tried to clear my reputation around the school, but never succeeded, and when she realized that I didn't care what other people thought of me, she understood that it was easier to have fun with it."

"And scare people with rumours and nonsense," Rose said. His immediate laugh startled her. He tightened the grip of her hand.

"Hey, we didn't invent the rumours. We just played along," he shrugged plainly, a gesture that inexplicably sent a rather unpleasant shiver through her stomach.

"You two really understand each other, I guess," she shrugged back, and Scorpius focused his sight intently on her. The corner of his mouth twisted playfully into a smirk. The second she saw his expression she regretted the entire remark. Scorpius released the grip of her hand, embraced her waist with both of his arms and pulled her closely towards him.

"She's just a friend, from a time when I had none. She and Thomas helped me make things easier," his raspy voice stated. "Tom was always there for the jokes, the long talks. Jasmine was there for the pressure. I would be a different person without them."

Rose's head had been inevitably placed over his chest. She breathed in deeply, his scent, his words. She erased the previous unpleasant shiver. She felt his touch, the soft sense of his lips kissing her head before whispering to her.

"Listen, it really isn't easy to deal with such a maniac family. And our past—it's very humiliating. That's what I never want to talk about it, and that's why I'm afraid we may be involved in all this."

"You don't have to include yourself, you know. It's wouldn't be your fault," she stated plainly, still feeling his lips against her head. Scorpius breathed in deeply, his chest moving strongly, slowly.

"It doesn't matter where I go, Rose, what I do. I'll always be a Malfoy, I'll always be guilty of something."

Rose heard his words, before returning to listen to the birds that chirped playfully in the wild, close to them. She buried her head in his chest and stared blankly at the silent lake.

Rose opened her eyes, which focused on the ceiling of her bed. It was very warm inside the covers. Summer had arrived gradually and was irremediably there. The past months had flown away, nothing changed much after the incident, but everything had been different. Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch house cup, a fact that brought James' spirit to the ground, since it was his last year at Hogwarts. Louis, on the other hand, as Ravenclaw's captain had been full of pride and joy. As his last year at Hogwarts as well, he showed off his cup as much as he could. Rose knew how proud her uncles Fleur and Bill must have felt with the news, especially Fleur, who was eager to praise any of her kid's accomplishments. Scorpius never showed himself to be shocked that Slytherin didn't make it to the final match. Rose felt slightly guilty about it, for his concentration had wandered off after the incident at Hogsmade. She tried to talk to him about the subject, but the conversation never went past a smile and a "We'll win it next year," from his behalf.

Nothing had changed with Gerard, who was still on the run, just like the rest of the fugitives the aurors were after. Rose had learned to put that subject aside, as she focused on her last months of class. She had managed to complete her finals and now the end of the year had arrived. That morning, as the last day of school approached her she regretted the summer, the end of something that was definitely going to be different when she returned next year. Rose had spent as much time with Scorpius as it had been possible. At school people were getting tired of seeing them together so she was already becoming old news, but she knew that back at home things would be different. Her family would become very overprotective, and she was certain that she wouldn't have as much freedom as she did at Hogwarts. She had agreed with Scorpius to be discreet about their relationship, in fear of upsetting her father, her uncles and, most importantly, Scorpius' family. She also knew that that amount of discretion was not going to last very long. Her family was too big and her father would soon find out that she had been running off with Scorpius all around the castle during the final months of the school year.

Rose's better judgement assured her that she should have been more discreet about her relationship with Scorpius, if they pretended to keep it confidential with their parents. But truth was that she had been too into it to care at the moment, too desperate to feel more and more every single day.

She had a long breakfast with Albus and went back to her dorm to get her trunk ready. As soon as her books, clothes and parchments were properly placed she walked towards the grounds of the school. Scorpius was waiting for her outside the castle, his hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face.

"You're all set?" she asked once she reached him.

"Pretty much, yes."

Rose looked down at the ground, and bit her lower lip.

"I suppose it's best to say goodbye here than at King's Cross," she said, looking at him once again.

Scorpius shrugged in return, and drew his right hand out of his pocket. He reached for her hand and took it softly. "I suppose," he smiled again.

"Write," she said in a whisper. It was a command more than a request, to which she chuckled weakly. "Will you?"

"I will," he nodded. "But your father will probably have your mail intercepted during the summer."

"He can't do that," she raised her eyebrow. "He wouldn't."

Scorpius nodded. "Alright then, I'll write. And I'll visit when the moods calm down."

Rose remembered that small fact. Her entire family would have doubts about her new _friendship_ with Scorpius, and more doubts would come once they figure out that it was a relationship. She was heading towards the least peaceful summer of all.

"You…you have become everything to me," he suddenly said. Rose smiled, her heart beating frenetically. With all the things her mouth could whisper, her head could think and her body could feel, her only true reaction was to remain still. He placed his hand under her chin and she felt the smooth touch strongly. She wanted to remember every single second so she would never have enough strength to doubt of him again, so she could have enough boldness to express how crazy she was about him. But she wasn't bold, and words were piled at the bottom of her chest, hidden from Scorpius' ears. She wished herself to be stronger, to say something back regardless of the fear of ever waking up.

She looked at him, at his mouth, at his soft smile and searched for it. She buried her lips one more time in his kiss.

oOo

_A/N: Thank you for taking this journey with me, and I can't thank you enough for your patience. I will develop the second part of this story soon, and as soon as I have more than one chapter written I will start uploading them. Please remember to review, I really appreciate your comments! _

Artist: Muse

_Lyrics: _

_There's a part of me you'll never know_

_The only thing I'll never show_

_Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly_

_Hopelessly I'll give you everything_

_But I won't give you up_

_I won't let you down_

_And I won't leave you falling_

_If the moment ever comes_

_It's plain to see it's trying to speak_

_Cherished dreams forever asleep_

_Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly_

_Hopelessly I'll give you everything_

_But I won't give you up_

_I won't let you down_

_And I won't leave you falling_

_If the moment ever comes_

_Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly_

_Hopelessly I'll give you everything_

_But I won't give you up_

_I won't let you down_

_And I won't leave you falling_

_But the moment never comes_

oOo

_A/N:_ _I had two inspirational songs for every chapter I wrote. It really helped me to brainstorm and it was lots of fun. One was from Rose's point of view, and that song obviously made the title of each chapter. The second song was from Scorpius' point of view. So, for those of you who have enjoyed the music that inspired each chapter of this fic, I'll leave Scorpius' songs listed below, according to each chapter:_

WTF? – Ok Go

I will posses your heart – Death cab for cutie

Hysteria – Muse

Shiver – Coldplay

You make me smile – Blue October

To be with you – Mr. Big

True Love Way – Kings of Leon

Closer – Travis

Crazy little thing called love – Queen

I'll Be – Edwin McCain

Dreaming of You – The Coral

Lucky – Radiohead

No way back – Foo Fighters

Open your eyes – Snow Patrol

Endlessly – Muse


End file.
